A Source of Hope
by ClosetFMAfan
Summary: Dark times are inevitable during any life- whether it be wars or lost loves ones or hardships of any manner. In the end all we can do is keep going, keep pushing through to the end and holding onto the people that we love. They are the ones that give us strength. They are the ones that give us hope. AlMei Interconnected oneshots
1. Welcome

**Welcome!**

**I'm going to have to explain myself a little here. I really am very sorry to keep you way from the story, but this is just explaining the formatting and the guidelines ect so if you don't want to you can just skip ahead to the first chapter. I would suggest reading this though if you haven't already.**

**This is a sequel to my story Good For the Soul which followed Al and Mei from when Al arrived in Xing as an Ambassador to when they confess their love to each other. It is not necessary to have read GFTS first, but it would make things better.**

**It follows the same format at GFTS, which, if you are not familiar with it, is an odd mix between a oneshot collection and a chapter story. Each of the chapters follows a particular timeline and situation, but each of them tells its own story, sometimes coupled with a previous or following story. The only main plotline they follow is the story of Al and Mei's lives after they confessed their love for each other.**

**I update every Sunday, almost always without fail. The chapters are grouped together based on time periods. For example, the first set of chapters are all going to be leading up to the proposal. There are NOT going to be any AU chapters like there were in GFTS.**

**There will be heavy EdWin and LingFan and probably a healthy dose of Royai too, as well as other canon pairings. Expect lots of cute fluffy shots full of embarrassing moments. There will be dark moments, (you know, blood, assassinations, pain, small scale heartbreak) but on the whole it's happy. I like happiness.**

**I'll take a moment here to tell you all up front that I don't Fullmetal Alchemist. I don't, never have, and never will. As sad as that makes me.**

**Enjoy!**


	2. Today's the Day

Mei was quite frankly surprised she woke up at all.

Waking up implied that one had gone to sleep.

She had actually managed to sleep last night?

That was a surprise in and of itself. She had not expected that she'd be able to fall asleep at all last night. The anxiety and excitement had to have been far too much to allow her brain to quiet enough for rest. But sure enough, Mei felt the very familiar feeling of being annoyed at the need to open her eyes at all.

Then they shot open as a thought presented itself to her still-half-asleep brain.

Today's the day.

The day she had been looking forward to anxiously for weeks was finally here. Presented in front of her, ready to appear.

Was she ready?

Almost as soon as the second thought appeared, Mei was already dismissing it.

She was definitely very ready for it.

And as she went about her normal business of getting dressed and controlling her hair into braids, she couldn't help but grin to herself as she did.

* * *

"Today's the day," Al muttered to himself as he fiddled with his tie. He loved the splash of color they added, but really sometimes he just wanted to knot them up and burn them or something. They were impossible to tie when your fingers were shaking from excitement.

"Nervous?" the man next to him asked, smirking, and Al smiled.

"Maybe a little. Excited, definitely."

"Felt the same way."

Al returned his attention to the tie and frowned, going back to retie it a third time.

* * *

The entire palace was in complete disarray as last minute preparations were made. Servants hurrying from one end of the hall to another, carefully decorating everything in perfect red paper. Mei knew that the cooks in the kitchen were going about crazy cooking extravagant dishes for the following feast. She hoped that she would be able to eat later, she was sure it was going to be a fantastic meal.

She watched the clock anxiously, smoothing down the fabric of her dress at least once every few minutes. She hoped he liked it. Not that Al normally cared about what she wore, but this was special and she wanted it to be perfect.

And then, finally, it was time.

* * *

The moment the door opened, Al's attention was drawn by one person.

Or rather, looking for one person.

It didn't matter how much you wanted to see a person or how well you knew them or the fact that you could tell the difference between them and an evil twin clone any day with a blindfold, when they were hidden in a crowd of people all waiting for their own parties to get off the train as well, they were hard to spot.

Which was why he was very glad that he was extremely easy to spot amidst the dark haired Xingese.

The moment he was on solid ground, he was almost knocked off it.

"Mei!" he gasped happily, all the air in his chest having been quite abruptly taken from it.

"Alphonse Elric, don't you dare think of leaving for that long again!" she shouted angrily into his shoulder.

He just laughed before picking her up and spinning her around.

"I swear, I won't. I miss you while I'm gone too, you know."

"You'd better," she said, glaring. Then, not caring about all the blue uniformed men starting to pour out of the train or the small envoy from the palace sent to greet the Amestrian party, she reached up on her toes and pressed her lips against his. He responded wonderfully, kissing her back and pointedly ignoring some of the cat calls from the soldiers.

"No more leaving," Mei said again when they separated. He enveloped her in a hug that she quickly melted into.

"No," he agreed. "No more leaving." They spent a few seconds like that, and would have continued, if not for the interrupting cough.

"Ambassador Elric, if you would be so kind as to accompany me…" Al smiled sheepishly at Fuhrer Mustang and let go of Mei. She was a little red when she caught sight of who had interrupted them, but a smile quickly offset it.

"Fuhrer Mustang, it's an honor for you to come and visit our humble country."

"Of course, Princess Chang. I couldn't stand the idea of not being here for the end of this project. It's been all anyone could talk about for months."

"Likewise. This is a momentous occasion and we couldn't expect much less than for you yourself to be present when it meets its end."

He bowed his head a little in her direction and she smiled graciously. Diplomacy wasn't her strongest suit, but it was what she was raised for.

"How is the Lieutenant?" she asked, as they began to walk away from the area.

"She is doing well, thank you. Everyone was a little frightened for her, pregnant at her age, but she's doing fine. She really wanted to come with me on this troop, but simply wasn't feeling up to it."

"That's a shame. I was so disappointed when I learned that we had missed the wedding," Mei said, holding onto Al's arm as they walked down the line presented to them by the mix of soldiers and guards.

"I was disappointed that you could not attend, Princess. I still owe you."

Mei smiled a little at the reference to so long ago, even if the memory was dark.

Then they were climbing into a car and silence reigned as they slowly made their way through the people-clogged streets of Xing to the palace.

Mei couldn't help cuddling up against Al's side. She had missed him so much while he was gone.

Following that one wonderful night in the garden near the pond, the news hadn't stayed quiet in the slightest. In fact, it seemed that within the week, both countries were completely abuzz about the Amestrian Ambassador to Xing falling in love with the Xingese Princess. The Elders had almost thrown a fit, but Ling had kept them under control, happy to see them together "at last, honestly, you took forever". Ed's reaction was perhaps Al's favorite though. He hadn't called, hadn't sent a letter or anything. Then they received an envelope addressed to the both of them with two photographs. One of the family photo taken in Rushvalley, the other of Ed grinning cheekily.

The message wasn't hard to figure out.

They spent a month or two in a blissful happy state, just happy to be with each other and spending every moment together.

Then one morning, she hadn't been able to find him. He wasn't in his room, he wasn't eating anything, he wasn't in the gardens. Eventually she had checked the library and found him pouring over a thick volume of Xingese law.

"_Are you planning on becoming a lawyer as well as an Ambassador, alchemist, and alkahestrist? It'd ruin your 'a' streak."_

"_No," he said, rolling his eyes at her. "I think I found the solution to our problems."_

"_What problems?"_

"_Our countries' problems. Our relations are better than they ever have been in the past, but that's because of Ling's experiences with Amestris and his willingness to cooperate. I don't think we'll have a problem with Jun-li going to war with us or anything, but the further forward we get, how much of a reassurance do we have that things are going to stay as good for both of us? And what if all of you were to get killed in a vicious attack? The throne would go to one of your brothers or sisters, none of whom would particularly care that much about it."_

"_What are you trying to say, Al?"_

"_That's not all! What about the problems we have today, right now? No one's quite sure how things are supposed to work out from here? How much is too much privacy and space? Are we allowed to go here, go there. Most people in Amestris don't understand a thing about Xingese culture. It's always just been that one country in the east. That's gotten better since the railroad and the treaties and all, but it's still bad. And relationships and trade and education and manufacturing and allies and partnerships- we still don't know how all of those are supposed to work out."_

"_So?"_

"_So what I'm saying," he said finally, pushing the thick book aside and grabbing a new one, "is that we need a treaty. A single document to be saved among the records and implemented that outlines all of these issues. Something that can be used for decades, or centuries, even!"_

"_That sounds like a really big project," she said, staring at some of the notes that Al had jotted down on the pad of paper next to him. She was still slow at reading Amestrian writing, but she managed to make out most of everything he had down. Then something caught her attention._

"_Al, how long have you been working on this?"_

_He paused, leaned back in his chair, and ran his fingers through his blond hair. _

"_A few months now?"_

"_When have you had to time to do it?"_

"_I've been waking up early in the morning so I'd have time before you woke up," he admitted. "I really wanted to have done research on it before I presented it to anyone. But I've been reading a lot, and I think that it might actually work. With some serious work, we should be able to actually do it. We should probably present the idea to Ling first, then if we can work out some sort of draft and get the Elders to check it. Then send it over to the Amestrian side and get Colonel Mustang-" The Fuhrer now, but it had been widely accepted that Colonel was the most natural way to refer to the man "- to redraft it so that they can get what they need and just keep passing the draft back and forth… who knows what it might be able to do!"_

"_It sounds like a great idea Al," Mei agreed, before pausing._

"_What's wrong?"_

"_There's just one thing…" Al frowned, worriedly. "Why on earth did you not tell me about this sooner? I could have been helping you! This could have been done so much faster. You ridiculous man, give me that book."_

_Al grinned at her and she passed a smile back at him as she grabbed the book and began to make her own careful notes._

The only problem had been the treaty, which after only two months had been begun to be passed from one country to the next in constant revisions, needed someone to go with it who could keep an unbiased opinion and fight for equality on both sides. Al was unanimously chosen, both as an Ambassador and for his qualifications as being engrained in both cultures, and accompanied the treaty everywhere it when, along with making the changes himself. He was responsible for setting up any and all meetings between the countries and keeping everyone happy.

This kept him away from Xing.

A lot.

Mei had not been allowed to accompany him and found him quite absent when he was in Xing, thanks to being so busy working out kinks in the document.

This had been his longest absence yet, almost a full month, because of a series of problems that had been presented.

She whispered something in Al's ear and he smiled at her. She smiled back and snuggled deeper into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her comfortably.

"I love you too."

* * *

**Happy New Years! Even though it's almost a week after New Years... uh... yeah. Anyways. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of A Source of Hope. New chapter next week, see you then!**


	3. Gossiping

**I am terribly sorry about not updating last week. I have been told that someone was worried I died. No I did not. I'm touched that you would be that worried though! Actually, my sister left on a mission for our church on Tuesday, and we were doing something on Sunday for her. We went to church, went to the open house, went to rehearsal, fireside... I left home at 9:00 and didn't come home till 9:00. Very very very sorry. Especially because it was the first week after I posted. *sigh***

**But, a new chapter has arrived!**

* * *

Gossiping was nothing new to Mei Chang.

In fact it was so "not new", gossiping being absent was new. In Xing, gossiping was tradition. It was common tea talk and made up the majority of talking during court meetings. She was very much aware that her normal conversations with Al, namely discussions and debates, were uncommon ones to have with a prospective husband (she begged almost every deity she could think of that it might be more than a dream one day).

She was even used to people gossiping about her, had been for a long time. Gossiping about what happened in Amestris, what spells she put on Ling to make him make her his heir, what spells she had put on the Amestrian Ambassador, if they were in a relationship and on and on and on.

But when she could hardly go into a room without hearing someone gossiping about her, it was starting to get a little exhausting.

It seemed that no one ever got tired about discussing her and Al. Servants, courtiers, peasants… Everyone. She wasn't sure if it was worse when Al was there or not. It was probably worse when he was away, because when he was there they were too busy watching them to talk about them at the moment.

If they kissed in public, she was guaranteed to not hear the end of it.

If he whispered something in her ear in the library, somehow someone would see it and report to the rest.

Mei loved Alphonse. She loved being with him.

But even she, born and raised for public pressure, was starting to get annoyed with it.

The first time he returned after she started to get fed up with it, they had spent most of their time together outside, away from the palace with its many eyes. This proved ineffectual. They were spied on by a large group of peasants and every move they made quickly spread around both countries. Apparently, they were being followed by Amestrian news too.

The second time, they spent most of their time together in the mountains where she had taught him most of the practical aspects of alkahestry. If he thought there was anything odd about this, he didn't mention it. In fact, he didn't seem to mind it at all. Just took it in stride.

She didn't understand how he could be so _good_.

Another common topic of gossip. Mei once managed to overhear an entire conversation between two servants discussing how good Al always seemed to be.

It seemed like they never got tired of finding things about them to talk about.

But, with Mei constantly trying to avoid these… these… vultures, it was bound to capture Al's attention.

"You've got to be kidding me," Mei muttered when they caught sight of the group of servants avidly watching them through the trees. They weren't being very subtle about it at all. One or two of them were actually giggling.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking up from the book he was reading. Some might think it odd that they counted reading together being together, considering they weren't actually doing anything, but it was one of Mei's favorite things to do with Al. He would read his book, she would read hers, and they would from time to time ask each other a question about either book. Sometimes they would catch each other sneaking glances at the other.

"They're watching us again," Mei muttered, keeping her eyes downwards and trying to speak without moving her lips.

He didn't answer for a long time.

"That really bothers you, doesn't it?" he asked, finally. "That's why you've been trying to avoid other people when we're together, right?"

Mei smiled a little at him. "Exactly." But then she caught the expression on his face. It was odd. Almost displeased.

"Al?"

"Why does that bother you? Aren't you used to people talking?"

"I'm used to be talking, you know that. Gossiping is a custom-"

"In Xing, yes, I know. But you're acting like it's bad."

"It's annoying," she replied, not bothering to pretend to be still reading anymore. "They're intruding on our privacy and treating it like a romance novel."

"Well, it is a love story, right? Just in real life."

"Yes, but Al it is real life. We're real people. Not characters that they can follow around all the time. I'm used to being followed and people being interested in me and my life, but this is ridiculous! I can't walk into a room without people talking about us. Sometimes I just want a little break away from them talking about us."

"You don't want them to know about us?"

"No! I mean yes. No. It's not that I don't want them to know about us, I just want it to be just us. You and me. Not you, me, and them. To not have to listen people talking about what I did with you nonstop for hours on end."

He frowned a little and looked back down at his book, silent. Mei frowned at him, but he didn't say anything, just staring at the paper.

"Al?"

He still didn't answer.

Worried that she had offended him somehow, she lowered her own head to the pages of her book.

"Mei, do you love me?"

"Yes," she answered immediately.

"Would you forgive me for anything?" She paused before answering that she probably would.

"Good."

Then he kissed her. Her eyes widened and she was fairly sure her cheeks were turning red, but he continued to kiss her until she was starting to want for oxygen. When he pulled away from her face, he was smiling shyly.

"Can you forgive me for that?"

She was still a little too shocked to say much but stammer. His cheeks were a little pink as well, but she was sure hers were bright red.

"Mei?"

The first thing she was actually aware of was the hushed chattering of the voices behind them.

Then it dawned on her.

"Alphonse Elric! You did that just because they were there, didn't you!"

The cheeky grin reminded her far too much of Edward. So she took the natural course of action and began to chase him around the garden, yelling that she would make sure he never moved again. He was just laughing as he ran. Unfortunately for Mei, Al's legs were much longer than hers. And he managed to evade her for almost a full hour before finally tripping and being unable to get up from laughing to hard.

She punched him in the arm —hard— when she finally got to him. But eventually she had to laugh with him. Al was just impossible to not laugh with.

The sun was starting to set.

"Does the laughter mean I'm forgiven?" he said, still laughing a little.

"No, no it does not," she said back, trying very hard to stop laughing.

"What about the fact that we ran away from anyone who would watch us?"

Mei stopped laughing and looked around. It didn't seem possible but… sure enough, there was a noticeable lack of anyone else in the area. Just a wide spread of grass, some trees and the sun shining its last rays of the day from behind the mountain.

"Al…"

He smiled. "I would give it a few hours before anyone would be able to find us."

She smiled widely at him, touched.

"The sun's going down though. We should go back."

"You're kidding, right? I go to all this effort to give you time away from prying eyes, and you want to go back?"

"Well what do you suggest we do out here with the sun going down?"

He paused and seemed to seriously consider it. Then he looked around and smiled softly.

"We could just watch the sunset."

Mei looked up towards were the sun was setting behind the mountain and her breath caught. The colors were spectacular. Yellow and orange bleeding through a light pink, lined by the purple that marked the advent to the dark blue of night. She didn't take her eyes off it as she sat down by Al's side.

They sat comfortably, arm against arm, both watching the colors intensify, then eventually fade.

They continued to sit there as the stars slowly began to appear.

"That was beautiful," he whispered, eventually.

"It was," she said, whispering too.

Then he turned and looked at her. The light was now gone, but there was enough to see him by from the moon. It seemed to outline him, giving him almost an aura.

"Not quite as beautiful as you," he said, even quieter. Mei was happy that he probably couldn't see her properly, because her cheeks flushed a little.

"Al…"

She was fairly sure he was smiling.

"Come on, we should go back." He held out his hand and helped her to her feet. He didn't let go of her hand all the way back to the palace.


	4. Stars

**Chapter 3! Whoo! I have to give a big shout out to my little sister (Ann if you're familiar with the profile). She did her job as a helpful fanfictioning little sister and gave me the ideas I needed to get through this chapter. So, muchas gracias to her and enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

No one would have been able to guess that Alphonse Elric had anything out of the ordinary planned.

He was leaving for Amestris once again in the morning, one of the elders had raised an issue about the third clause in the fifth paragraph of the treaty and refused to accept it until the Amestrians made a concession. It was looking like it'd be an issue that would have to be worked out in person, which would be a meeting, which would mean a lot of complicated arrangements. In the light of all this, it was determined that he would have to get a good night's rest before heading off again. So, around 7:00 or so, he helped Mei take out her hair (she determining to just keep it in a long pony tail for the rest of the night), climbed into bed, and was asleep like a light.

Mei spent the rest of the night taking care of the small duties that managed to pile up when you weren't paying attention. This, that, here to there… none of them were particularly hard considering she'd been doing them all for years, but when they were all piled together and done at the same time, she was quite tired when she chose to go to bed.

Only to be woken up around 12:00 with a smiling Alphonse Elric standing over her.

"…Al?"

"Hey," he said, still smiling. "Are you so terribly tired you wouldn't want to spend my last night here with me?"

"…what?"

"Would you be willing to get up and stare at the stars with me?"

"Stare at the stars?"

Mei wasn't the most responsive person in the morning. Or when she woke up, which was more the case in this situation.

"If you don't want to, that's fine, but I was hoping to spend some more time with you before I left again…"

"No, no, of course I want to," she said blearily, straightening and trying to smile at him. It was hard with her face muscles were still asleep too.

"Are you sure?" he asked, sounding a little worried. "I don't want to inconvenience you-"

"No," she said firmly, swinging her leg over the edge of the bed and sitting up. "Spending time with you is not an inconvenience."

He smiled back at her, and quickly helped her locate something sturdier to wear over her night clothes for them to go out in. It took longer than it might have normally thanks to Mei tiredness and Al's desire to not push her too far, but they eventually made their way out of her room and through the halls to one of the back doors to the palace that led to the grounds.

They were careful to avoid detection as they slipped through the grounds, trying to get as far away from the palace itself without leaving.

Just walking outside made Mei more awake.

She would never get tired of the air in the Xing. For one, it was home, though in the capital the air was dirtier than back in Xianxun, but that was just being picky. The spicy food and fresh smell of the area mixed together to create an air that Mei missed whenever she was elsewhere, whether that elsewhere was Amestris or any of the Eastern countries.

They didn't get nearly as far as they would have liked, but it was enough that they could escape most of the light pouring from it despite the hour.

Al carefully spread out the blanket he had brought with them, and laid down on top of it, staring at the sky.

She got down next to him, entwining her fingers with his. He turned his head to smile at her and she smiled back, then they turned their gaze heavenwards again.

They lay in silence for a few moments, simply taking in the brilliance.

"You can see more back home," Al said suddenly.

"What?"

"Resembool. You can see hundreds. Thousands. They're all across the night sky. It's out in the countryside, so there's not so much light. You can see more here than you can in Central, but, not so many as back home."

"Did you use to look at the stars often?" she asked, turning her head to look at him rather than the stars. He was still focused on them, but she kinda liked that. His profile was strong but soft at the same time. One of her favorite things about him. How he could be strong and protective, but sensitive and sweet at the same time.

"Yeah," he answered softly. "Mom didn't like it that we would stay up that late, but Ed and I would always convince her that we would stay up that late anyways and that she might as well stay with us outside. We would stay up for hours. She would tell us stupid stories about some of the figures in the stars. What created them. How shapes got there. Sometimes she would just make the up right of the top of her head, sometimes they were something she had heard before… It didn't matter. Ed and I loved them. We never got tired of any of the stories, we loved the new ones. Sometimes we would try to come up with our own."

He snorted slightly. "Some of them were downright awful, but she always told us how much she loved them and in the morning she would have written the entire story down and saved it in a box."

"What happened to them?"

"We burned them with the house."

The answer was simple, but there was something about the way he said it that made her squeeze his hand tightly.

"Do you remember any?"

He laughed a little. "Mei, this would have been from when I was six or seven. You can't honestly expect me to remember any of them. And even if I did, I wouldn't want anyone to hear them ever again. I meant it when I said they were awful."

"Come on, please?" she begged, making sure to stick out her lip for effect. He laughed a little at her expression before putting on a thoughtful expression.

"Hmm. Okay, there's one I remember. You'll have to bear with me." Mei smiled widely and sat up so she could look at him. He smiled and propped himself up on his elbows so that their eyes met at an angle.

"Forgive me if I can't remember all of it, it's been a long time, okay?" She nodded and smiled again which just made him turn a little pink. "Alright. So, um… A long, long time ago, animal only used to eat plants. Then one day, a bear decided to eat a fish. And then a fox tried it, and soon there were a bunch of animals who were eating each other. And the gods didn't like that."

"I thought you didn't believe in gods."

"I don't, it's just a story," he replied before continuing. "And so they decided to cast the whole world in darkness and put a big black… blanket? Sheet? Something like that, over the world to block out the sun. None of the animals really liked this and they kept trying to stop this. I think they sent two or three different animals to try and break through it or send a message to the gods or something like that, I can't remember, and eventually it was hummingbird that managed to poke a bunch of holes in the sheet and finally breaking through. Only the humming bird died and the gods were really sad about that so they decided to remove the black sheet for half of the day, but keep it there for the rest to remind the animals of what they had done."

She didn't say anything and he finished lamely.

"And that's how we got night and day and the stars and moon."

"Was that one your mom told you?"

"Yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his head. Then she smiled.

"That's adorable." Even though it was dark, she could tell his cheeks had just gotten a little darker.

"Uh… thanks?" Mei laughed and he joined in.

Then she laid back down on the ground, up against his side.

"Look," Mei said some minutes later. "A shooting star. Do you want to make a wish?"

"A wish upon a meteorite?"

She snorted. "Yes. A wish upon a meteorite, you scientific cynic."

"Am I supposed to tell you my wish or not?"

"Do you want to tell me?"

"… No, I think I'm good. I'd rather not take the chance that it won't come true."

"It'd better be a good one, if you're not telling me."

"Trust me. It is. I like it. What about your wish?"

"Maybe I don't want to tell you either."

"Well then fine, Princess."

"Fine, Alphonse."

They both started laughing at the same time before Al picked Mei up in a tight hug.

They didn't intend to fall asleep like that, but somewhere halfway through their conversation Mei began to drift off, the exhaustion of the day not completely worn away from her previous sleeping. Al continued talking for a good three minutes before realizing his audience was asleep and he had to laugh a little before realizing that it was time for him to sleep too. He did have an early start in the morning and probably shouldn't had pulled this little stunt.

He toyed with the idea of picking her up and carrying her back to the palace, but when he had finally made the dicion that that would likely be the best choice, he was already half asleep and his body was strangely unresponsive.

Well, it wasn't like it was cold out there or anything.

* * *

There was a mad panic in the morning.

No one could find the Ambassador who was supposed to be leaving with the very important treaty. They had searched his room, which had been found empty, looked in almost every single room, searched the close grounds… They tried asking the Princess but found her missing too. No one could figure out what might have happened, because there were no signs of struggle in either room.

It was getting really bad until they showed up, both with clothes thrown over their sleeping clothes with various bits of plant life on them.

"What happened?" and elder practically screamed at them as the impending search was called off. They were talking about bringing in dogs.

"… Fresh air?"


	5. Heir to the Throne

Mei honestly didn't have that much experience with babies.

Or children, really.

She had taken care of and raised a baby panda.

She had kept Benjamin from killing himself with a steak knife once. And when Winry was almost dying of a cold and Ed was out of town, she had even fed Sara with a bottle.

That was pretty much the extent of her knowledge when it came to children. She had never exactly been a normal child and was certainly not raised as such. Almost none of the other village children had been allowed to play with her. She was usually too busy with her own training and other such lessons to play with her cousins.

And now she found herself watching the heir of the Xingese throne quite often.

The first time Mei had attempted to do so, it had not ended very well. She had gone into the "session" hoping that the feminine maternal instinct would kick in and she would be able to entertain the child and keep him from hurting himself without too much difficulty.

It hadn't gone nearly as well as she had hoped.

Eventually one of the servants in charge of watching the heir had to step in and show her the proper way to play with the baby, how to hold him, how to entertain him without frightening him, and so on. Mei had been embarrassed, but tried her best to take the woman's advice to heart.

The next time she returned, there was more correction, and more the time after that. But Mei was pleased to find that the more she went, the less correction there was. By the time Jun-li was about eight months old, she was able to receive no correction whatsoever when spending time with her nephew. She also learned that she was the only one of the Princes or Princesses who had bothered actually entertaining and playing with the child. A couple of the others had come by, but most of them were simply interested in saying that they had gone.

But despite the correction, Mei genuinely loved spending time with her nephew. She had never gotten to spend time around children and soon wondered how she had survived. He was absolutely adorable. Large chubby cheeks, his mother's dark eyes, and his father's wide smile. The two or three teeth in his mouth only made it more adorable.

From what she could gather from her time with him, Jun-li was definitely more his mother's son than his father's. He had a calm demeanor very different from Ling's hyperactive one. Even barely able to stand on his own, he managed to do it in a way that made it seem like he was capable of doing quite a bit more than that. Run, jump, climb rafters and wait for hours for the slightest hint of danger. It was a trait that would serve him well when he was emperor.

Hopefully he had enough of his father to be able to do so. As much of a goof-ball as Ling acted, he really was a good Emperor. Very straightforward and honest. He actually cared about the people and did things to help them.

And from what she understood, Fuhrer Mustang was doing the same. As far as she knew, he was still working hard at rebuilding Ishval and providing good pay for the workers there. She knew very well that he was working on some better education programs, because a few of them included sending Amestrians to learn in Xing. Al hadn't stopped talking about that clause in the treaty for almost an entire stay.

Mei's train of thought was interrupted when Jun-li spat up on her shoulder.

"You, little boy, need to stop doing that."

He did it a lot. He also liked grabbing her hair. A lot. Which was why she almost always had it twisted all the way up when she would come play with him. It just so happened that today she hadn't really been planning on coming by, and was constantly trying to keep the braids out of his hands.

So she just grabbed a nearby towel and wiped off his face and dabbed at the spot on her shoulder. "The son of the most powerful man in Xing, destined to become the most powerful, spitting up. You should be ashamed of yourself. What will you descendants think?"

"I have yet to encounter a child who did not, Princess," the servant, whose name was also Mei, commented. She was exactly where she always was, standing by the cradle, ready to step in should the need come. "Perhaps not all of them do so with the frequency the Young Lord does-" That was also something that disconcerted Mei. Young Lord was something she had always associated with Lan Fan calling Ling. Hearing anyone else referring to someone other than Ling as such always made her pull a double take and wonder who exactly she was holding in her arms.

Though, she supposed, it would probably be very obvious if she was indeed holding Ling instead of his son.

"-but I would hazard a guess that you did too."

"What?" Mei said, feigning affront. " How dare you make such an assumption. The Chang Princess would never do something so infantile as spit up."

"Not even as an infant?"

"Of course not. I was born with an adult-like manners and personality."

"Liar."

If the word had come from the other Mei, Mei would have been very shocked. That was simply not something a servant said to a Princess. Mei wasn't directly offended or about to cut her head off or anything, but it had to have been a glaring breech of protocol.

However, the word did not come from a servant.

It came from an Ambassador.

An Ambassador she knew very well.

"I would hardly call come of your behavior from the first time you were in Amestris adult-like manners and or personality. You knocked me over by kicking me in the chest and jumped on Brother's face."

If she hadn't been holding a baby, Mei would have thrown herself into his arms right then and there.

"Alphonse!"

"Hey Mei."

"I didn't know you were back!"

"I didn't know I was coming back," he said smiling and moving further into the room. "We finish agreements a lot earlier than we thought. No one had any problems on our side. I think we might be able to fix things up pretty soon. If we can get no complaints here, it'll be sent over to Amestris one more time and then back here for signing. So keep your finger's crossed there's no problems."

Mei smiled widely at him.

"That's great news!"

"It is," he agreed, now close enough to hug her, which he did. Mei shifted Jun-li to her hip so that he wouldn't get squished by the embrace.

"So how are things here been going? How's the next ruler of Xing?"

Mei smiled and shifted the heir so he was looking at Alphonse. He grinned at Al, who smiled and waved back.

"He's pretty good. Spitting up regularly."

"Of course. It's imperative for a baby to do such. It's how they clean their souls from this madness we call life. Just spit it up."

"Oh yeah?" He nodded gravely.

"Yup. They're new to this existence and find it much to their disliking and try to spit up the world's influence on them. Eventually the effort becomes too much with too little result and they slowly allow life to change them into the hard cold adults in our world today."

"Or maybe they simply gain control over their throat and mouth?"

"Of course not. That's a ridiculous theory. I've always held you in the highest of esteems intellectually, Mei, but really. Learning how to control their throat and mouth. Ridiculous. Almost heretical."

"Am I going to have to be executed?"

"I'll try to avoid mentioning it to Ling. Can I hold him?"

"Ling?" she responded, eyes twinkling.

"Ling II," he said, holding out his arms. She, grinning, handed him over.

"He's actually not that much like Ling," she said as Al lifted the heir up and began to make faces. "He's more like Lan Fan."

"Well let's hope he's enough like Ling to run a country. We'd be in deep do-do if he didn't." Mei couldn't help but giggle as the voice he used. He had used it with Sara all the time too.

Jun-li apparently liked it too, because he wouldn't stop giggling every time Al would talk to him in it.

Mei watched him play with the child and couldn't help but grin as she did so. Al was just a natural with kids. It was like and instinct with him. It was probably thanks to the same thing that made him fond of picking up stray cats and trying to find them all homes. That sensitive side of Alphonse Elric that she loved.

He'd make a great father-

Mei froze.

Al would make a great father. He would love his children to death and enjoy playing with them and giving them toys and teaching them…

It had just never occurred to Mei that… it was possible that his kids… would be hers.

It technically made perfect sense. They hadn't been together very long, but they had been friends and in love long before they knew about the other's feeling towards the other. They were both old enough to marry and she loved him, he loved her, they were already close, they already knew they could stand being close to each other all the time…

It was entirely possible that they could end up marrying.

It wasn't like Mei had never thought of it before. But the idea had always seemed like such a far off dream or idea that wouldn't actually be able to come true.

Now…

"Mei?"

"Yes, Al?"

"What were you just thinking about? You got that far off look in your eyes…"

"Oh," she said smiling, "Not much… just… I love you."

"I love you too," he responded immediately before taking a closer look. "Are you sure you're alright?"

She grinned. "I'm perfect."

"Yes. You are."

* * *

**Hmmm. Honest opinion, do you think this worked/fit/made sense for the time period and their relationship at this stage?**


	6. Competition

**Really sorry about not posting last week. This is my second time in two months and we're only to chapter 6. MAJOR FAIL. Sorry, guys. It was just busy. *hangs head in shame* Not only that, but it was both Chinese New Years AND Valentines Day last week. FAIL FAIL FAIL.**

**This is an early in the day update at least :) I hope that semi-sort-kinda-maybe redeems me. A little. Hopefully. **

**Oh, and you have to check you (yes, this is an order. GO NOW. OPEN IT IN A DIFFERENT TAB, LOOK, AND CONTINUE READING) AvatarAlchemy's drawing "A Sign of Good Luck". It was inspired by the first time that Al brushes Mei's hair in GTFS and it's AWESOME. GO. NOW. **

**Have you gone and looked?**

**Good. Now read.**

* * *

Even though he had lived in the country for years, Al had discovered that there was never going to be an end of learning its customs. It actually made a great deal of sense. Not only because of its size and age, but it's history as well. Before Xing was… Xing, it existed as different warring tribes. Eventually, a young man of one of the tribes, no one knew the original name, assumed command of the tribe. Renaming the clan after himself, Xing, his first decrees were to conquer, bribe, and otherwise entrap the surrounding tribes and clans in a large country, likewise named after himself. And though they all acted as one country and were ruled by a common ruler and were bound by a common language, the strength of the clans as a single unit couldn't be ignored. So Xing took each of the clan leader's daughters as his wife so that none of them would ever prove disloyal.

Despite all of the efforts and the hundreds of years since this occurrence, each of the clans managed to stubbornly hold onto all of the individual customs they previously had. So it really wasn't a surprise that Al could be surprised by some of the customs the crazy country managed to come up with.

But it was a surprise to him none the less.

"Mei, what is all of this?"

Mei looked up from a pile of flowers she was sorting and turned red.

"Uh… flowers. Why are you here?"

"I thought we were going to go on a picnic," he said raising the basket in his arms. "You didn't meet me by the front so I came to check and make sure everything was alright. Where are they from?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Alphonse, I just got distracted… We can go, that's fine, this isn't important at all. What did you bring?"

He frowned at her and then at the flowers, but shook his head and answered her question. She smiled, complimented him on his choice of food, and grabbed his arm, practically dragging him out of the room. Al didn't have much time to dwell on the presence of the _hundreds _of flowers that he had discovered in her room, probably by design. Mei was very determined about no silence in their conversation, it seemed. So, by the time he kissed her on the cheek and waved her goodbye, he hadn't come to any possible conclusions about what they might mean.

The moment she walked away, he couldn't help but become… well, completely obsessed with it.

Why one earth was she receiving that many flowers? As far as he knew she wasn't in charge of any important functions at the palace that would require dealing with a lot of flowers. He couldn't think of or didn't know of any holidays going on in which one would send a great deal of flowers to her.

He really didn't want to entertain the idea that it was other men sending her flowers. Not being arrogant or something similar to it, but frankly almost everyone in the country knew about them. Almost everyone in the country… liked them together. That someone else, that many someone else's or just a someone else with that much money and or access to flowers, would try to… what, win her over? bristled. A lot. But he tried to ignore that possibility, because really, it was so far-fetched.

Imagine his surprise upon learning he was absolutely correct.

He hadn't been able to take it any longer and started questioning around. He was expecting people to not know or avoid answering or something like it. Instead he received very honest and simple answers.

"Oh, those are from other suitors."

"… Other suitors…?"

"Did you not know, Ambassador?"

"Not know what?"

The guard exchanged looks with his counterpart who seemed to be holding back a grin. Al didn't like where this was going…

"It's tradition, Ambassador. When a Princess of Xing…" Now he didn't even make an attempt to mask the grin. "You do not know?"

"Know what?"

Now there was snickering accompanying the grins. "The flowers are from suitors trying to steal her away from you."

"… trying to steal her away from me?" At this point he was mostly reduced to just repeating everything the men said.

"Indeed, Ambassador. As the Princess of the Chang clan, and as the Emperor's favored sister, it's traditional for the men of court and other such high classmen of Xing to try and sway her after she has become betrothed or entered a serious relationship."

The guard not talking was by now laughing. The other one however felt a bit too frightened he might have just killed the Amestrian to join in.

"Ambassador? Are you alright?"

"… they're trying to steal her from me."

"Yes, Ambassador."

Then the guard became more concerned about the Ambassador killing someone else instead of being dead himself.

* * *

Mei knew that Al had found out just by the expression on his face when he walked into her room.

"You know?" she asked, wincing a little and throwing one of the bouquets to the side.

"They're trying to steal you away from me?"

"I guess that's one way of putting it. The official way of talking about it is 'They're trying to remind me of all the options available and ensure I don't make an uninformed decision', but yes, they're trying to steal me away from you."

He gaped at her for a few moments.

"Where on earth did a hair braided backward idea like this come from?" he said, not quite believing that she was being so calm about it.

"I think it came from what I said. A desire to ensure a girl's guardian's didn't forget about all the suitors available and make a narrow decision. I think the flowers and gifts probably came from trying to prove to her father that the man in question was wealthy and worth his time in checking out for his daughter. Sometimes it would actually sway him, if the young man could demonstrate enough wealth. But somewhere along the way it became more just trying to get the girl to marry you instead of him. Especially in a position like mine. They all just realized that the Emperor's favorite sister is in a serious relationship, and there goes all their chance of getting chummy with Ling."

"… and you're _okay_ with this?" Mei almost smiled at the incredulous and slightly outraged look on his face.

"I actually find it a little flattering, yes. No one's ever made this much affair of a Chang Princess before. You'd better make your claim, Al, or they're going to steal your woman."

He gaped at her.

"Please tell me you're teasing."

"Of course I'm teasing," she told him, smiling and giving him a hug. "They could give me the moon and I still wouldn't consider any of them for a second over you." He relaxed a little and hugged her back.

"Good, cause I don't think the moon's in my budget. I don't get paid as much as an Ambassador as you might think."

Mei snorted and pulled away enough so that she could look up at him. "Oh well that's disappointing. I think it's time we stopped associating…"

He faked an affronted look. "How can you say something like that Mei? I thought you loved me!"

"I thought you promised to give me the world," she responded, poking him. "If you can't even afford the moon, you're not worth my time."

"I think you're under a false misconception that the world is more expensive than the moon. The world is much easier to obtain."

"Oh really? Then why have you not yet given it to me?"

"Because you already gave me the world, Mei."

Really, something as cheesy as that line should have deserved a scoff or a giggle or something along those line, but when Al said it so sweetly and honestly, there was nothing for her to do but smile, throw her arms around him in a tight hug, and then kiss him.

* * *

It wasn't all over for Alphonse Elric however. As had been stated before in many aspects of his life and interactions, despite taking after his mother, Al was still Edward Elric's brother. He could be every inch as stubborn and determined. In fact, some of the people who knew Trisha better swore that her sons' stubbornness came from her. It didn't matter that Mei had reassured him that no one would be able to actually sway her with the gifts.

He was going to make it perfectly clear that they would in no way win.

He had to call in the big guns on that one though. So he called the one person he knew would be able to and willing to help him above anyone else.

"I have to do something!"

"Really Al? Why are you asking me about this? You know her better than I do, get her something sentimental, she'll love it a lot more than any of the superficial things they're getting her."

"We'll, I don't know if.. I just I'm not sure..." He seemed as if the words were hard to get out.

"What?"

"I can only really think of one thing. I, well, I got her something, but I'm not sure if I should give it to her."

"Why on earth would you not give it to her? You're the one who was just going off about how you had to get her something that would prove to everyone else that she was yours and no one else had a claim on her and whatnot. If you've already got something, give it to her."

"I'm just not sure if... I'm not sure she, we, are—"

"Al, this isn't advanced alchemy," He wished it was. That would make it all so much easier. "You got her something, if it's a nice gift, you should give it to her."

"Winry, I don't think you understand... I got her a ring."

"A ring sounds lovely. What's wrong with that?"

"Well, it's an... An engagement ring."

There was dead silence as Winry tried to absorb this. Al winced a little.

"WHAT?" Al winced again, though his time more because of the volume of Winry's squeal. "Alphonse Elric! You give that ring to Mei right this instant! Get down on one knee and make sure she'll never be able to get away!"

"Winry! I can't just give her the ring! Even if I did propose, I'd have to do it right. And what if someone said she couldn't marry me or... What if she says no..." Someone passing by was being quite obvious about how crazy Al must have looked at that instant, hunched around the phone so that no one would be able to hear the conversation and running his hair through his hair in frustration.

"Al. Stop being ridiculous. She would never say no and everyone in the country loves you two. If anyone tried to object to your wedding, there'd be a revolt on their hands. Especially if you make the proposal public."

"You think?"

"Al, I'm a very intelligent woman who's been proposed to by the man she loves. I don't think, I know. And in case you still have hesitation, if there isn't a ring on Mei's finger put on there by your hand in a month, you will never eat another slice of my apple pie again."

There was another pause if silence.

"A month you say?"

"A month," Winry answered firmly. "Not a single slice or crumb. Ever."

"Excuse me, Winry, I have a proposal to go plan…"

Al hung up the phone, knowing very well that, a desert away, Winry was grinning in a rather Ed-like fashion.

* * *

***eye brow waggle* That's also part of begging for forgiveness for missing last week.**


	7. Permission

**Okay so this chapter is really short and I'm really sorry about that. Really I feel awful about the skips and the short and... Sorry guys. But I had a meeting after church that went long and then practice and there was this other idea that wouldn't leave my head and... it was bad. But you guys should be kinda thankful! I was in a car accident yesterday (no one got hurt except the car, I'm fine. Bruise from the seat belt, but other than that, fine) and I, unlike a certain friend of mine (YES. IM CALLING YOU OUT IN FRONT OF MY ENTIRE FANBASE HIEU) did not take advantage of the situation and try to get out of my responsibility to provide you with lovely wonderful fluffs.**

**I take that responsibility very seriously.**

**And no, this isn't the actual proposal, sorry. It should be next chapter though.**

* * *

Al was acting weird again.

There were a handful of times that she could think of when Al was acting weird. Among these was when he was trying to be sneaky about giving her her cat, for the few weeks after Ling's wedding, for a few days after she had heard her explosive denial of her love for him, and for a few days or so after they took a picture with Ed's family. She knew the reasons behind all of these now, in retrospect. After discovering the fact that that was the moment when he realized he loved her, that her denying it made him depressed and act weird, and that he had confessed to Ed shortly before the picture.

This time, she absolutely and utterly clueless.

She hoped that this would be something she would eventually be able to figure out later.

Because this was really weird. Weirder than his normal weird.

Which probably wouldn't make sense to anyone else, but oh well.

He just kept looking at her oddly. Like he was trying to figure out something. She might have assumed that he was wondering about her birthday if it hadn't been a few months ago. They didn't have an anniversary coming up or anything. So it couldn't be a gift. The only reason he would give her a gift not on a day usually saved for that would be if he found something he really loved and wanted to give it to her. But that didn't make sense either, because if that was the case then he wouldn't be hesitating in giving it to her.

So Mei was pretty much clueless.

Al on the other hand was… freaking out. He didn't know he was managing to get through the days most of the time. Mostly by trying to focus on finalizing the last touches on the treaty. They were so close to getting it signed he could taste it. They had even picked a date for the signing. But whenever they would begin to discuss the signing (it was almost unanimously agreed that the Al would accompany the Amestrians to Xing with the treaty for it to be signed), it would remind Al of the fact that it was scheduled for just a few day before his one month was up and he could begin to think about Mei again and would drop out of the conversation and have to piece together what was going on, if no one asked him a question to bring him back to the world first.

He wasn't lying when he said he had gotten a ring for Mei. He had actually gotten it a while ago, in Amestris. He had been walking down the street and noticed the small store that just so happened to have the perfect ring. It had taken a lot of inner warring, but eventually he decided that he'd rather have it for a long time than risk it not being there when he needed or wanted it. And even if things didn't work out between him and Mei, he wouldn't have to worry about buying a ring later for someone else.

He really hoped that the last circumstance never presented itself.

He loved her.

But now he had a deadline for _proposing_ to her and… well. It wasn't the best circumstance to find himself in. It had only been a few days, but he was planning on leaving for Amestris again soon, and he didn't know how long that trip would take, since they were hoping for it to be the last one.

He was determined, _determined_, that he would not have as lame of a proposal as Ed. He refused. It might have worked for Winry, but Winry also loved Ed. So… no. He didn't want to be too over the top cheesy either, because as much as Mei loved the romantic stuff like that, he didn't want it to seem fake or too sicky-sweet. But he had no idea what he could do in between those two extremes that could… work.

Al would honestly admit that he was terrified of proposing to her. He rationally and consciously knew that Mei probably wouldn't refuse. That was just being practical. However, no matter how many times his mind told him this, he couldn't help but let the nightmares where Mei rejected him and married someone else creep into his thoughts when he stood next to her, hand wrapped tightly around the box with the ring trying to fight with his legs and tongue to simply get down on his knees and do it.

What he really had to be afraid of thought, was other's reactions. No matter what Winry said about a Revolution, the Elders truly had a strong say on what went on in Xing. If they truly refused to let her marry him, there wouldn't be anything he could do about it. He could argue, he could get Ling to argue with them, but if they dug in their heels, they would win. As far as he knew, none of the Royal Court had ever married an outsider, especially not a princess and possible heir (more possible than the rest of them, anyways) and he was terrified that they were the reason for that.

And what if…

A horrible and slightly frightening thought presented itself to Al.

He would need to ask for permission, wouldn't he?

* * *

When Al came in and called him "You're Majesty", Ling knew there was something up. When he requested a private audience, he _knew_ there was something up.

He voiced these thoughts the moment the door closed behind them.

"What's wrong?" When the Amestrian turned around however, he was bright red. Something was totally up.

"Well, nothing's wrong, exactly. It's more just… well, you see… I have a, uh, a question I need to ask you."

Ling raised an eyebrow. What question could he possibly need to ask him…

"Um… Well, Ling, I wanted to ask you for your permission, or, I want to ask for your blessing for um… Can I ask Mei to marry me?"

There was a long silence.

"Excuse me, Ambassador?" Al winced.

"I want your permission or blessing to ask Mei to marry me."

"To marry you."

"Yes."

"… You're trying to take my little sister away from me?" Al flushed a little brighter.

"…Yes?"

"Do you know what you're asking me for? My permission to let you take care of the only sister I've ever cared about. My permission to give you the responsibility to keep her happy and safe and fed. If I give you my blessing, I have to think you love her more than any other person in this world and that she loves you more than anyone else. And you come to me, thinking that you can be that person, Ambassador?" Al looked terrified for some reason. Good.

"Yes?"

Ling rose to his full height and roared as loud as he could.

"Well you have it! NOW LEAVE."

Al blinked.

"Excuse me?"

Then Ling started laughing and threw his arms around Al in a large hug. "Of course you have my permission, you idiot! I've been waiting for you to ask for months now! I thought the moment you two came out as a couple you'd tie the knot. It's honestly about time. She's not getting any younger."

"She's only 18," Al responded, looking awkward under the fabric swathed arm over his shoulder.

"Practically an old maid here. So, how you going to do it? Where? How you going to ask?"

"I haven't figured that part out yet."

Ling blinked at him for a few moments before grinning wickedly.

"I have a few ideas for you."


	8. The Signing

Mei didn't think she had ever seen the palace so excited.

True, she hadn't been there for Ling's crowning, which had to have been even more of an affair than this, but it was still the single largest affair hosted by the Imperial Palace that she had attended. And she had attended the Emperor's wedding.

Red was everywhere, lavish decorations, the best food ever produced from the kitchens available all the time, people running about here and there, the odd splash of blue provided by the Amestrian soldiers, laughing, preparations…

It was very easy to get drowned in it all.

Even easier to lose a certain Ambassador.

Mei had never had so much trouble finding Al in Xing. Normally it was extremely easy, just find the random blond head. With the extra Amestrians wondering around, her job became a great deal harder.

Honestly, sometimes she needed to leash him or something.

She spent a good hour or so looking for him, before finally giving up. She seemed to be doing that a lot these days. He's was terribly busy all the time with this treaty. It made sense that there would be a great deal of work here now, so close to the end of it, but… it had been three weeks. She wanted her Alphonse back. Almost as soon as they were out of the car, he was gone.

It should all be over soon.

As soon as the treaty was signed, he'd be free and they'd be able to spend time- real time, not just a single night staring at the stars or a few hours alone in in the mountains together- together.

On her way back to her room, however, Mei ran into something she was not expecting, nor particularly excited to have run into.

Namely a gaggle of servants gossiping quite fiercely about her and the man she was looking for.

Mei whispered something princesses shouldn't particularly say and quickly ducked into another room so that they wouldn't see her.

"They have to get married!" one of the girls said. "They've been friends for years and have you see the way the Ambassador looks at her? He just loves her so much!"

"Love isn't everything, Lan. It doesn't matter if they loved each other to the ends of the earth and back, she's our Princess and he's and _Amestrian Ambassador._ There's simply no future for them. No one would ever let them do it. If they tried, she'd lose her position as Princess and third in line for the throne and the Ambassador would never be accepted among Xingese court again. If they even allowed her to get married at all."

"If she wasn't going to be a Princess anymore, why would she need their permission."

"Well, if she doesn't want to be cursed for the rest of her life, she'd better get permission."

"Well… Well… they're just too in love! They can't not let them get married!"

"You're such a fool, Lan. Stuff like this… it just can't happen. They're a side story, not destined to last. She'll probably still be betrothed to some rich member of court and he'll find some Amestrian girl he knows and marry her."

"But the Emperor likes them together, doesn't he?"

"Even the Emperor can't ignore duties like this. If someone went to him asking for the Princess's hand in marriage, he would have to give it to him regardless of whether he likes the Amestrian or not."

"But that's so… They're going to end up together. Mark my words, Fie."

Then the group moved off.

ASDFGHJKL:

Mei never did end up finding Al, but he managed to find her at the end of the day. He had entered her room, offering to take her for a walk around the gardens since he had downtime and they hadn't seen each other in three weeks and he wanted to talk. She had agreed, leaping to her feet the moment he suggested it.

It was very enjoyable, with only them in the garden. It was one of the few peaceful places left in the palace. Not everyone was allowed access in it, and of those who did, many were far too busy to actually take the time to enjoy it. The garden was one of Mei's favorite spots to go with Al. Even though it had been years since he had been stripped of his ability to smell and taste, every time, he still managed to make her appreciate it more.

"Mei…" he started hesitantly. "You know… you know that I love you, right?"

"Of course." He smiled and looked down. It looked almost like he was fiddling with something in his pocket.

"Good."

"Why?"

"Hmm?"

"Why do you ask? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no, nothing's wrong," he assured her. "It's just… how far… how much… what would you be willing to do for me?"

Mei blinked at him and he flushed a little.

"I'm sorry, that was badly put. Uh, just forget I ever said it."

"Al? Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

"I'm sure, Mei. Really it's fine." She gave him a worried eye. It was almost as if he was inside her thoughts. Ever since that conversation she had overheard, she had been wondering what she would do if Al ever actually proposed to her. Before, she had always been so confident that the answer would been an enthusiastic yes. However, the servants had brought up a good point. If she did, she could lose everything. The titles and position meant nothing to Mei, but that would make her an outcast to her entire clan, her entire country. And she knew how much Al enjoyed being Ambassador. He loved it in Xing.

If he ever did ask… could she do that?

"Al, I'd do anything for you."

He smiled at her. "I hope you don't have to. I'd never want to do anything to hurt you Mei."

She smiled. "I know."

ASDFGHJKL:

It was very loud and very lively. Normally affairs like this were very formal and somber, but Al was grateful for the easy going feeling in the room that the Amestrians and the new treaty had brought. He was situated between Ling and Mustang who were chattering away about different plans for the future. Trading posts, ever better transportation, maybe even a traveling abroad program. Al was content to just enjoy the meal and keep an eye on the beauty across the table.

Since she didn't have a large role in the treaty and was no longer heir to the throne, Mei was sitting at the far end of the table with some of her brothers and sisters and the less important members of Mustang's entourage. She was currently laughing at something Denny Brosh had said and quickly translated for her sibling who all roared with laughter. It seemed like something from a dream.

Then the servants swooped in with almost choreographed timing and whisked away the dishes in front of them. Ling patted his mouth a few times with a napkin and all attention was turned to him.

"Thank you all for coming," he said regally in Xingese. The official court translator came forward and quickly repeated the line in Amestrian. "I think we all know the reason for our gathering, so it does not make sense to repeat it. However, as I'm sure both of our countries can attest to, many court traditions and customs we choose to follow don't always make sense." There was chuckling from the crowd as the translator finished.

"And so, just in case any of you came just for the food, we are gathered her today to celebrate the beginning of peace and cooperation between our countries for many years to come. Today we signed a treaty that I am personally honored to be able to put my signature on. And I'm sure that Fuhrer Mustang feels similarly." Mustang nodded deeply so that everyone would be able to see.

"But, you know, as much as I would love to take credit it for all, I've been trying to avoid lying, this week," There were a few chuckles "and to take the credit could be considered as nothing less. True credit is due to none other than the Amestrian Ambassador, Alphonse Elric."

There were some cheers at Al's name and he flushed a little.

"And because Al isn't very fond of being put on the spot, I'm going to make him stand up and give us a speech."

The flush soon became much, much, much brighter, as well as being joined by a dropped jaw. Most of the crowd laughed good-naturedly.

"Well come on, Al," Ling said, grabbing him by the arm and forcing him to stand up. "Give us a speech."

"What, but I don't know what to say and there are-"

"Oh come on, Al," Ling said, giving him a pointed stare. "Surly there's _something_ you can come up with to say." Al just stared at him opened mouthed, before he seemed to all of a sudden understand something. His mouth closed shut. He straightened, still bright red, but with a determined look in his eye.

"Um, well. I guess I might be able to come up with something to say."

"Good!" The crowd cheered, increasing the red color even further.

Al cleared his throat awkwardly. "Well, um. You all know that this is a momentous event. For the past few months, I've been working diligently with the two men on either side of me and their respective councils, to bring to pass a treaty that would forever cement the relations between our two countries. It's been a long time in coming. It's something that could benefit both of our countries, both of my countries, for in time I've come to love both of them, for years to come. And I hope that it will."

There were some more cheers.

"A couple people have asked me, um, where I got the idea for this. It's come from a lot places. Some of it came from the confusion I saw every single day, trying to deal with being and Amestrian in this country. Some of it came from the knowledge of the Emperor's time in Amestris, which was what led to him and I becoming friends. I knew that because of this, and similar experiences that Fuhrer Mustang had with the Emperor that this was a chance for permanent peace to be achieved between our countries."

Al took a deep breath.

"I have to admit though, a great deal of its inspiration has come from my close friend, Princess Mei Chang." Many of the people turned to look at Mei, who turned pink at the attention. "She's been someone I've relied on very heavily in my time here in Xing, and outside of it. She's taught me a lot, and we've discovered and figured out a lot of things together. Our ability to cooperate was almost like the spark that lit the flame of this whole experience."

Mei tucked a strand of hair that had come out behind her ear. Al smiled at her before turning to Ling.

"Emperor, if I may see a copy of the treaty?"

Raising an eyebrow, Ling handed him a thin packet of papers. He smiled, took them, and flipped through the pages, until he was about halfway through.

"This is something I added specially myself. Article VI, Addendum F, Paragraph 2, fourth sentence reads, and I quote, 'The marital union of a man and woman, regardless of which nation to which they trace their ancestry or most resent residence, shall be recognized by both the Nations of the Empire of Xing, and the Amestrian Government." Whispers broke out. "Such a union may be performed in either Nation and must be, by law, recognized in both Nations. Furthermore, the persons of such unions shall be treated with the same rights and honor as if no difference in Nation exists.'" He looked up from the paper and stared directly into Mei's wide eyes, which were staring to water.

"And I think in the light of that, it would be appropriate to, ask, beg, plead, for the permission to make Princess Mei Chang… my wife."

There was a sudden uproar of whooping, cheering and shouting.

They only grew louder when Mei, sobbing, almost knocked Al to the ground with the force of her tackle hug, screaming yes for the whole world to hear.


	9. Happy, Happier, Happiest

The elders were not happy.

It was just too bad that Al really had covered all the bases. The paragraph weren't the only clauses he managed to slip in regarding inter-racial marriage. No one had questioned their addition because it was a rather reasonable concern. With them purposefully trying to connect and intermesh the countries, it was reasonable that some marriages would pop up and they needed guidelines on how to treat such marriages. Probably none of them realized that Al's motives in doing so were purely selfish and designed so that the first marriage between persons of different countries would be his own.

All the elders could really do was sit back and grumble about it.

Meanwhile, the rest of Xing threw a party.

There was plenty of celebrating right there at the feast. Mustang himself gave up his seat so that Mei could sit right next to her new fiancé, choosing to go sit by his soldiers. Ling had a fun time teasing them about it for the rest of the evening. People they knew and people they didn't would come up to them and offer them congratulations.

When they finished the evening, Ling closed with a few words about the treaty and prosperity, and then made a few jokes about their best example. Normally, at least one of them would have blushed. All they could do was grin.

There were many more jokes as the evening finished and people trickled away from the hall. Even more when they walked together to Mei's room, but mostly from the Amestrian soilders who didn't know about their nightly tradition.

The door closed behind them.

"Uh, hi," Al said awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "You're not, upset are you?"

Mei stared at him.

"Uh…."

"Why on earth would I be upset?"

"Well, I wasn't sure if you were comfortable with me making it that public and all. I wasn't planning on doing it like that, but Ling put me on the spot and I felt like it was the right time to do is so…"

"Al, it was perfect. I do wish I had a bit more of a warning, but…"

"But then that would have ruined the surprise!" She grinned. "You wouldn't have wanted it to not be a surprise, now would you?"

"I guess I can deal with it. This is supposed to be one of the best days of my life, isn't it? Proposed to by the man of my dreams who's spent the past few months ensuring that we'd be able to marry? I think I can deal with not knowing about it before hand. In fact, I might even say I'm the happiest person on earth right now."

"Good. I'd hate to have ruined everything for you. But I do have to protest you being the happiest person on the earth."

"And why is that? Do you think I'm not?"

"I'm just not sure you could come anywhere near to as happy as I am, considering the most amazing woman I've ever met has agreed to shackle herself to me for the rest of her life."

"Shackle?" she said, jaw falling. "I protest! If you think I'm going to be contained, Mr. Elric, I think we might have a bit more of a problem than I anticipated."

"Of course not, Mrs. Elric."

Mei froze. Then a wide grin spread across her face.

"Mrs. Elric." Al blushed a little.

"Well, yeah. If we're going to be married, you're going to be the second Mrs. Elric, aren't you?"

The grin grew wider. "It's just… I've wanted to be Mrs. Elric since I was ten. Admitably for the first year or two I was thinking of Ed not you, but… it's actually going to happen. I… Al, we're going to married."

"That is the idea of a proposal."

"I know but… it's actually going to happen! We're going to… married. Just… you and me. Together as long as we both shall live. We can have a family and…" She grinned again. "I definitely think I'm the happiest person on earth right now."

He smiled. "Very well. Where did you put the brush this time?"

"Top drawer."

He turned around to go grab it. Mei took her normal spot in front of her bed and played with the edge of the intricate hairdo that had been done in honor of the banquet. It would probably take longer than normal for Al to take it out which would mean more time together. That was the only down side of them doing this so often. Al got so good at taking out her hair styles he would be able to finish far too quickly.

She paused in her fingering and smiled again.

He would continue to do this. What was it she had said when she first got him to do it for her? What if your wife has as much hair as I do? Well. That seemed to work out perfectly. He would definitely be able to play with her hair wonderfully.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked as he sat down on the edge of the bed behind her, already locating the right pins to take out.

"I was just thinking of the first time I asked you to do this. I told you you needed to know how to for your future wife and what if she had as much hair as I do?" Mei didn't have to turn around to know he was grinning.

"Extremely wise of you. Did you know that when you said that I wished that my wife would have the exact same amount of hair as you?"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. To the strands, color, and length. And the head it covers."

"Al…"

"I love you Mei."

Not even caring that her hair was only half out of its hairdo, Mei turned around and kissed him. He was too shocked by the sudden action to do anything until she pulled away.

"I love you too, Al."

He smiled at her. Then:

"Oh! I can't believe I forgot!"

He grabbed her by the waist and dropped her sitting onto the bed, before getting down on one knee in front of her.

"It's a little late considering I already asked and you already said yes, but I do want to do it a little more traditional way." He cleared his throat before saying as regally as he possibly could, "Princess Mei Chang, Daughter of the Son of the Morning Emperor Feng Xing by the Chang Clan, Favored Imperial Sister of the Son of the Morning His Highness Emperor Ling Yao, and the Third Heir to the Imperial Throne of Xing, I, Alphonse Elric, son of the Eastern and Western Sage, Ambassador to Xing from the nation of Amestris, and humble admirer of the Princess, have asked for permission from your Emperor, Emperor Ling Yao, son of Feng Xing by the Yao clan, for the permission to ask for your hand in marriage and received it. So, I do humbly, with the humblest of humbleness," Mei giggled, "beg for the Princess's hand in marriage. May your humble servant have it?"

"No. No he may not."

Al frowned in confusion.

"But…"

"I will not give my hand away to a humble servant. To a strong, sensitive, intelligent, and kind alchemist, yes." He rolled his eyes at her, but he was still smiling.

"Very well then. I, Alphonse Elric, son of the Eastern and Western Sage, Ambassador to Xing from the nation of Amestris, and strong, sensitive, intelligent, and kind alchemist have asked for permission from your Emperor, Emperor Ling Yao, son of Feng Xing by the Yao clan, for the permission to ask for your hand in marriage and received it. So I do hereby beg for the Princess's hand in marriage. May your strong, sensitive, intelligent, and kind alchemist have it?"

She paused, pretending to think about it.

"Well, I guess I can. Since you are a strong, intelligent, and kind alchemist and all."

"Don't forget sensitive," he said, grinning. She smiled back at him. "And, since you said yes, I think it's about time for me to give you this." Al pulled a small object out of his pocket and presented it to her.

Her breath caught a little.

"Al…"

"Rings are more an Amestrian tradition, I know, but you've always liked my weird ways, right? I found this and I thought of you right away."

She held out her hand and he slipped the ring onto her finger.

"Normally engagement rings are diamonds, but… it reminded me of your eyes." The solitary dark blue stone sparkled on her finger.

"I love it, Al."

"I'm gla—" He couldn't finish his sentence, since Mei kindly knocked all of the breath out of his lungs with the force of her hug. Al laughed and stroked her hair.

Then she pulled away so that they could look eye to eye, but she was still in his hug.

"You know, we actually do have a bit of a problem now."

"And what is that?"

"We're going to have to plan a wedding."

"Well yeah, but—"

"No, Al, we have to plan a wedding." He looked at her a little confusedly. "Have you thought about what that's going to entail?" He paused and thought.

Then some of the color fell from his face.

"… Uh… So, uh… how do you feel about eloping?"


	10. Wedding Plans

**Thanks to everyone who voted in the poll! Thank you very much for the support and the ideas. I was really surprised by how many people voted for the having two weddings, almost 50%. I was also surprised that I had a whole two people vote for eloping. XD**

**Here's what it's probably going to end up being though.**

**Oh! And I'm rather mad right now! I just discovered that someone else has been using my plot device! I'm not going to say who or what it is so I won't spoil it for you guys, but I'VE HAD IT PLANNED FOR OVER A YEAR SO WHEN I DO USE IT I PLANNED IT LONG BEFORE [insert name of person who did it] YOU SO YOU HAVE NO RIGHT WHATSOEVER TO GET MAD ABOUT ME USING IT. YOU STOLE THE IDEA FROM MY HEAD. OR YOU HACKED MY COMPUTER AND STOLE MY FILES. So, yeah... Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

The thick set of papers slammed onto the desk with enough force to make the occupier fear for his fingers.

"I can't take this anymore!" Mei yelled in exasperation. "If I have to deal with one more problem I swear my brain is going to explode! And Al, while you're one of the most naturally gifted alkahestrist I've ever met, I don't think you're good enough to fix that." The blond Amestrian stared confusedly at his fiancé.

"What?"

"I can't take these problems anymore. There's always one more coming up. Trying to appease the members of Ling's court when their already mad enough about me marrying you in the first place, while at the same time incorporating Amestrian traditions for the Fuhrer and all of his officials. And apparently just about every one of my eighteen sisters has researched Amestrian traditions and now wants to be my bridesmaid."

"All eighteen?"

"Just about. I thought the Yan heiress said she would rather swallow boiling tar than be involved in the wedding party, but…"

"Yeah, point taken." Mei shoved her head into her hands and groaned.

"Any luck with that guest list?" she asked eventually.

"Not really. Someone else always seems to want to get on. I have Ed, Winry, Teacher and Sig, obviously Fuhrer Mustang and Riza, the rest of the team, Gracia and Elysia. Anyone else?"

"What about Yoki?"

"Oh yeah, we probably should invite Yoki and the rest of the chimeras. Wasn't Dr. Marcoh with them last time we heard?"

"Yeah, but we should send him his own invite in case he's not still with them," Mei pointed out. Al nodded and scribbled the note down in a notebook. Then he began to tap it thoughtfully with his pen and stare off. Mei began to shuffle some papers around before finally bursting out: "There are too many problems! We still don't even know where we're going to do it!"

"I still think we should do it here. Ling told us the palace and surrounding grounds are open for our use."

"Yes, but even if he is the Emperor, the Elders are already seething mad about this whole ordeal and aren't going to enjoy having it on the palace grounds. That send the message that they approve or the whole thing, which they can't afford to do. Ling's just too popular with the people, they're losing power," Mei said angrily. "I just wish we didn't have to deal with all these politics. We can't offend them, we can't offend Ling, we can't offend the Fuhrer, we can't offend the Ishvalens, and we can't offend my clan, and we'd have to arrange it so that all of our friends in Amestris could come. If we had it in Amestris, we risk Ling not being there —"

"Mei, calm down," Al said, trying to keep his fiancé from internally combusting. "Mei!"

She took a deep breath and fell into the chair next to him.

"Can I take you up on that offer of eloping now?"

He smiled a little and grabbed her hand. "I personally would be more than content with that. As long as it's you and me and we're being recognized as man and wife, I don't care. I do know however that even if we did so, Ling would still force us to have a wedding. And he'd probably plan it himself. Ed and Winry would never forgive us, probably kill us in the process of never forgiving us, and Fuhrer Mustang would never stop teasing us so long as we live. He'd probably claim it was his idea too. On the plus side, it'd give Xing something to talk about for_ years_."

Mei had been grudgingly accepting what he had been saying as he spoke, but when he made the last comment, she slumped down so far in her seat it would have permanently rearranged her spine for staying there.

"But…"

He smiled at her and kissed her knuckles. "It's partially my fault. If I hadn't made such a public proposal, we might not be having such a big problem."

"I personally thought the one you made in my bedroom was more than satisfactory."

"That one was more planned. I was not expecting Ling to put me on the spot like that. When he did though, I decided that now was as good a time as any and went for it."

"Well I'm glad you did. It was perfect."

There was a lull in their conversation in which Mei got up and settled herself on his lap and rested her head against his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her protectively while resting his own head on top of hers.

"We don't even have a date."

"I thought we agreed on November."

"We did? I thought Ling vetoed that because of the festival."

"No, he said we can't have it the first week of November. The rest of the month is still open. The weather won't be too bad, a little cold, but nothing we can't handle. We'll have time to plan it and get the word out to the people we need to attend. It seems good to me."

"Okay, so sometime in mid-November. But that doesn't solve all out problems. Where? Who's coming? How are they getting there? What if they have problems? How are we going to do the wedding at all? This is the first public and popular wedding between an Amestrian and someone from Xing. Are we supposed to pick a culture or mix them? How much of each culture? Does that depend on where we are, because again, we don't know where!" As she became agitated, she turned away from him and began waving her arms around.

"Mei!" he shouted again, grabbing a hold of her hands so that she wouldn't be able to wave them around. "Remember what I said about calming down?"

"… I'm sorry Al. I'm just… I don't know what to do."

"It's okay," he said, easing her back so that she was resting against him again. "We could do two weddings."

"What?"

"Two weddings. We have one in Xing with traditional Xingese traditions. They can make it as big of an affair as they want and invite whatever Xingese figures they want. And then we have another one in Amestris with Amestrian traditions and all of our friends and family there. We won't have to deal with coordinating schedules for travel between the two countries, we won't have to deal with mixing traditions… What do you think?"

Mei paused and thought about it.

"It makes sense…"

"But?"

"Huh?"

"But what? It sounded like there was a but on the end of that sentence."

"Nothing." She smiled and cuddled up against him further. "It seems fine."

* * *

Mei had trouble sleeping that night.

She didn't know why. After Al's idea proposal, they managed to move forward with their plans. They set a date for each of the weddings, arranged the people who would attend each (they agreed that Ed and Winry would probably have to and want to come to both of them), and made more progress in that afternoon than they had in the past two months alone.

No matter how she tossed and turned or conjured up images of her and Al with their children (she hoped that they all got Al's gold eyes. She would like at least one of them to have his hair.) or the image of him smile as they finally got pronounced married by the officiaries of Xing and/or Amestris…

That was when Mei discovered what was bothering her.

But there was no way to get around it was there? The very idea itself was in contrast. There would not be an easy answer would there?

Mei did not end up falling asleep that night. She spent the whole thing trying to figure out what to do, to see if there was any way to work around the problem.

It certainly was not an obvious fix.

By the time she finally came to an idea and managed to put her mind at ease, it was time for her to awaken.

* * *

"Al?"

"Sorry, give me just a few seconds, putting a few more touches on the guest list for Amestris. Do you think we should invite Dr. Knocks?"

"Actually, Al, that's what I wanted to talk to you about." He put the rather lengthy piece of paper in his hands down so that he could see her better.

"Dr. Knocks coming to the wedding?"

"No, the wedding. Or, weddings." He raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "I don't want to have them."

Al blinked.

"I thought we already talked about eloping Mei-"

"No, I'm not talking about not having a wedding… it's just… I don't want to have two."

"What do you mean?" She frowned.

"I know it's the easiest path and it's solved a lot of our problems but… I've been dreaming about my wedding day since I was old enough to understand what a wedding was. I've always thought about it as the best day of my life, when I get to marry the man of my dreams who would carry me away from my parent's home on a white horse. I knew that it probably wouldn't be like that and I probably wouldn't even know my husband, but I still kept those imaginings because… because of you, Al."

"Okay."

"It's supposed to be the best _day _of my—our lives, Al. Not days."

He paused and looked at her. "You just want to have one?"

"Yes."

"Because you're afraid of making it… un-special?"

"… Yes. I want it to be one great big moment of happiness and excitement, not a fake ceremony to appease dignitaries and friends. I don't want to have it in my memory as the second wedding we had just so people in Amestris could attend."

Mei bit her lip as she watched Al frown. He didn't seem upset or anything, merely a little confused.

"Are you sure? We'd have to pick a country and try to mix the customs. What about the guests? We can't not invite people."

"I was thinking about that last night though. Xing is probably more important to have the actual wedding itself because of my status. I'm sorry about that. But if we're really careful, what we could do is arrange it so that we go through all the pomp of the Xingese ceremony in front of everyone but then Ling preforms and Amestrian wedding or binding or whatever you want to call it. We can invite the people we care about the most and anyone who can come… We could honeymoon in Amestris and visit the people who didn't get to come."

"And you're sure about this?"

"… I am."

"Mei, all I care about you. About us. As long as we're married, I don't care. Where and how doesn't matter to me at all." He held her hands and kissed them. "As long as I get to call you my wife. If you want to do that, okay. Fine."

She smiled at him.

"You're in charge of trying to convince everyone else to see it that way though."

* * *

**My argument is that Mei's a romantic. This idea appeals to her a lot more because of that.**

**Oh, and I'm terribly terribly sorry guys, but I don't think there's going to be a chapter next week. This week I'm starting performances for this really huge play (Savior of the World- it's for Easter and, man, are we going all out with this thing) and we've been practicing for, literally, months, and I'm already exhausted and I just don't think I'll be able to do a chapter next Sunday. It's kinda my only day for a break since Monday I'm working on my homework. But I'll probably still be writing the chapter which may or may not be the wedding. Depends on how I'm feeling and if I have any ideas for something different. **

**Please review! And thanks again for voting on the poll!**


	11. Jitters

**I'M BACK! This is the long break I've ever taken from writing this story (excluding the wait between GTFS and ASOH) and I'm really sorry. But I really needed the break two weeks ago and last week was Easter. So I'm justified. Sort of. I hope so. Am I? And even if I'm not, am I forgiven?**

**(Forgiveness means less dragging out if that helps...)**

* * *

Mei really wished that the girls would have let Alphonse come that night to take out her hair. Well, she guess that even if they had let him in the night before the wedding, they probably wouldn't have left them alone which would have ruined most of it, but right now, she really just wished she could have talked to him before this. There was no chance of anyone letting her or him near each other until they met at the end of the aisle now, and she really wanted to some of his easy confidence.

Spending time with all of them was actually, she had to admit, kind of fun. Winry had arrived in Xing only a few days ago with the rest of her family. There was no way they were going to miss the wedding, even with Sara being only a year old. She and Benjamin were currently being treated with the utmost care along with the Prince of Xing. Winry's only real concern was that they were going to end up wanting that kind of treatment all the time.

When Winry arrived, she demanded the moment she saw Mei that it was her sacred duty to keep her as far away from Alphonse as possible the few days leading up to the wedding. And she somehow managed to do it. Mei suspected that was because Ed was keeping Al away from her as much as Winry was her. And then that night, Winry had gathered together all of the cousins and sisters that Mei actually liked (which translated to cousins and Lan Fan) and threw a party of sorts. There was noise and laughing and enough teasing to turn Mei very red, and when they finally turned off the lights, Mei was feeling pretty good. As the night progressed and everyone began to drift off to sleep, though, the nerves started to make their way back. That was when she really started to wish that the girls hadn't started making a giant fuss when Al showed up to take out her hair. He must have managed to escape Ed, because Winry was getting pretty mad at him before she pushed Al out of the room and away without Mei having even seen him.

Al wasn't having a much better time of it all himself. Ed and Ling had been switching stories about their pre-wedding jitters, even Colonel- Fuhrer Mustang had joined in, and while they had made his a little better, it hadn't done much in the long run. He couldn't sleep, even though he knew he needed to, and ended up staring at the ceiling for a few hours while Ed snored next to him. Winry was with Mei, the reason he hadn't been able to go see her earlier, and the kids were given special treatment, so Ed was sleeping in his room. They hadn't slept in the same bed since… since they were kids really. It was odd.

Al started to feel a little sorry for Winry, dealing with this every night.

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore.

* * *

Lan Fan was the only one who woke up at the noise. Everyone was far too deeply asleep and of them, perhaps only the Princess had any measure of training similar to her own. She would have, and probably would have, attacked the figure that opened the door _almost_ silently and crept through the room avoiding sleeping bodies if she hadn't recognized it.

After a brief and completely silence conversation involving quite a few hand gestures, Lan Fan gave him a brief glare before rolling over and resuming her sleep.

The figure made it the rest of the way to the bed in the middle of the room and gently shook the Princess's shoulder.

"Mei?"

She shifted and moaned slightly, making him wince.

"Mei, please get up." She finally, slowly, did, blinking at him confusedly.

"Al?"

"Yeah, it's me. I had to come see you before tomorrow and no one would let me. Can we go somewhere else?" She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand and nodded, swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

He held onto her hand as they avoided stepping on anybody on the way out. The door was closed as quietly as they could behind them, and then they hurried down the hall and finally out onto the open grounds. The extra pairs of guards around to protect the influx of important figures raised their eyebrows at the sight of them going outside in their night clothes, some laughed, but they still let them pass.

It was almost completely dark, only a few stars shining tonight through the clouds. There was only a sliver of moon. Both of them were able to make their way around pretty well though. Their sense of _qi_ allowed them to avoid straying from the garden path and they knew the area well enough to know when they were approaching their favorite bench to sit on under the tree.

When they sat down, Mei rested her head against his shoulder. Her head couldn't quite make it on top of his shoulder, so she usually just settled with resting it against the side of it.

"We're going to be married tomorrow," she said.

"Yeah."

"Are you nervous?"

"…Incredibly."

"Me too."

"It doesn't make sense that I should be nervous, though! This is something so incredible that I've been looking forward to. I want to be married to you so bad Mei. I was to be your husband. I want you to be my wife. I love you. I thought that it was weird that Ed was acting the way he was on his wedding day because he felt the same way I do about you and being married. But here I am, just like him. I don't even know what I'm nervous about."

"I'd make a comment, but that's pretty much my exact feelings right there."

He smiled. "Well if I'm explaining your feeling already, we're going to be having a good marriage."

She laughed and leaned further into him. He put his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

"Everything's going to go well tomorrow, right?"

"I hope so. Don't shame me in front of everybody, okay? If you ruin the first public Xingese/Amestrian wedding, you could ruin the future of our countries working together forever and–"

"Mei! Now I have something serious to worry about!" She smiled and kissed him.

"Ruining the wedding doesn't mean you're going to ruin us, Alphonse Elric."

"You don't know. It could be an omen."

"You haven't been living in Xing long enough to make you actually believe those, have you? Where's the critical scientific cynic I know?"

"I think you're thinking of Brother. He's in the palace, snoring on my bed." Mei giggled.

"Poor Winry."

"That's what I was thinking." There was a slight pause.

"Is there anything someone would say 'Poor Mei' over I should know about?"

"I think you already would," he said, playing with some of her hair. It was down and long, so there was plenty for him to play with. "If you wanted to complain about me snoring, you would have when we were traveling together."

"Perhaps I should complain about you trying to use me as a teddy bear." His head shot up.

"What?"

"You don't remember that? Xiongnu. The receptionist thought we were married and got us the room with only one bed. We tried to set up a wall, but when I woke up the wall was in pieces and you were holding onto me like I was a teddy bear." If it wasn't so dark, she would have been able to see the flush across his face.

"Okay, so I do remember that."

"Mhmm."

"That doesn't bother you does it?" he asked, putting his arms around her so it was almost like she was. "Cause I think I like this better than my old teddy." There were a whole host of responses that Mei could have made in response to that statement. She could have nuzzled him back, she could have said something sly about getting used to it, or she could have even chosen to ignore the comment in favor of sinking into Al's hug. Instead:

"You used to sleep with a teddy bear?"

"Yup. His name was Theodor. I left him behind when we went to be tutored by Teacher and didn't think about him again until he went up with the house."

"I used to sleep with a stuffed dragon named Peachy."

"Peachy?"

"Yup," she answered, looking behind and up at him. He laughed and hugged her tighter before letting go.

"We should probably get some sleep so we're not exhausted tomorrow. As it is, I think I might end up passing out while I wait for you to walk down the _miles_ long aisle."

She smiled and shoved him.

"You'd better not. Remember what I said about ruining the first big public wedding?"

"I'll try not to actually ruin it, alright?"

"Good." They shared a quick kiss before turning and making their way out of the garden once again. The Guards let them back in and they shared one more kiss before Mei went back to her room and fell asleep. Al finally managed to do the same.

* * *

Nobody but Lan Fan was up when Mei woke up.

If she knew anything about Al sneaking in during the middle of the night, she didn't say anything. Mei suspected she actually did know—there were very few things that got past Lan Fan even when she was supposed to be asleep—but didn't want to mention on it for whatever reason.

Neither of them said anything. They just sat together, staring at the rising sun through a large window.

The hair dressers actually arrived before the other's arrived. Thanks to the amount of hair Mei had and the intricate nature of which her hair would have to be prepared, they needed to get an early start so that it could be finished before other women came in to do her makeup and get her dressed.

Their arrival woke up the rest of the girls who had been sleeping in her room that night and the room was soon filled with noise and chatter as they all began to get ready themselves. Some of them left to get their own assistance from servants, others made do with their own skills and each other.

Lan Fan had to leave and join Ling in getting ready, so she said goodbye and Winry took over her position.

"How are you feeling?"

Mei paused and didn't answer for a while. Then she smiled. "I'm feeling pretty good. I'm ready to get married."

Winry smiled back. "Good."

* * *

**About the whole sleepover thing, it's a Chinese tradition for the Bride's best friends to hide her away for a few days before the wedding. Usually the groom will have to come and get her and the best friends get to tease him and make him do stuff to prove he's worthy of their friend, but I'm skipping that part in favor of Amestrian and the Xingese traditions I made up for the LingFan wedding.**


	12. This Is It

**THIS IS IT GUYS. 60 CHAPTERS AND THEY'RE FINALLY GETTING HITCHED. THIS IS EXCITING. OH MY GOSH. EXCITING. **

* * *

Winry was gawking at how much work went into preparing Mei's hair for the ceremony when there was a knock on the door. She frowned and left Mei's side to open the door. Mei frowned after her soon to be sister-in-law. Who was it that could be arriving? She didn't think that Al would try to come by again, it was even an Amestrian tradition for the groom not to see the bride before the wedding, and there was no one else who would be arriving. Unfortunately, she was forced to look directly ahead and not move her head an inch so that the hair dressers could do their job properly. One of them had even informed her that if she so much as thought about moving and messing up their hard work, they would let her go out there with her hair how she left it.

Mei knew that there was no way they would actually let that happen (any mistakes in her hair would fall on their heads quite heavily) but she still took the threat seriously and vowed to stare directly ahead no matter what. She could only strain her ears to hear Winry begin to admonish Al for showing up and then have the words die in her mouth.

"Winry?" she called. "Who is it?"

There wasn't an answer. "Winry!"

Then she entered her peripheral and sat down in the same position she had been earlier, a slightly upset expression on her face. "Winry–" Then a second figure entered her view and Mei squealed.

"Mr. Scar!"

The Ishvalan looked different from the last time she had seen him. Far different from the first time she had seen him. Then, the scar stood out bright and ugly, just like his hatred. Now it looked like it had faded some more. He didn't look as angry as he used to. It seemed being back with his people working to rebuild things had helped him.

She wanted to get up and give him a hug, but the light tugging at her hair reminded her she had to sit still.

"Hello." She smiled widely at him.

"I didn't know you were going to come! I thought you had something going on in Ishval!"

"Fuhrer Mustang arranged for it to be taken care of by someone else so that I could attend. He did not wish for me to miss this." Her smile only widened.

"I was so sad when I heard you couldn't come, I'm so glad you can!"

"I did not wish to miss it either."

"I wish I had known earlier. I would have loved for you to hand me off to Alphonse. Normally in Xingese tradition we have the bride's grandfather and father walk her to the groom so that they can make the journey to the alter together, but we decided to forego my father since he's dead. My grandfather is giving me away." He shifted slightly.

"Actually, the Emperor arranged to have me do it."

Mei gaped. "He did?"

Scar nodded. "He thought that as long as you are mixing two cultures with this wedding, adding a third couldn't hurt."

This time, she addressed the hair dressers. "Are you at a spot and time in which I could get up to hug him?"

There was a minute of silence and Mei felt a pin stab her scalp. "Very well Prin–"

There was a loud "Oof" noise as Mei launched herself at the Ishvalan.

Even Winry, who was watching with a guarded expression, had to smile a little at the sight of the small Xingese girl knocking over such an imposing figure of a man.

"You are much bigger than the last time I saw you," he told her, "But your hugs have not changed much." She smiled again.

"Princess…" one of the hairdressers prompted. "Might I remind you we are on a schedule and the dressers and makeup cannot begin until we are finished?"

"You'll have to go get dressed," Mei said happily to Scar. "I have to get finished in here, but then I'll be seeing you later. I'm so happy you came!" she repeated before sitting back where she was supposed to be. Scar actually smiled at her.

"I'm happy I came."

ASDFGHJKL:

Al shuffled and straightened. Then he shuffled again. Then he began pacing a circle in front of the door. Ed told him off, and he stood still. Then he shuffled and straightened.

"Bananas, Al–"

"Winry still making you use replacement cuss words?"

Ed glared at the wall. "Yes. She is. I'm not allowed to stop till Sara's starts using them on her own, apparently."

"What if you have other kids?" Al asked, more just to have something to do rather than pace and wait for it to start. "Which you probably will, because it's you two."

The unhappy glare Ed was giving the wall only intensified. "She'll probably make me wait till they start using them on their own too."

"Why, Ed, you might just forget how to swear by the time your youngest starts on their own." Al managed to laugh a little at the expression on Ed's face, but it wasn't long before he was back to pacing, shuffling, and straightening.

Finally, a gong rang through the palace. Ed slapped his brother on the back, wished him good luck, and then left the hall to take his place by Ling. Al took a deep breath and placed himself at the door where he belonged.

_This is it_, he realized. This is it. In half an hour, he was going to be proclaimed the husband of Mei Chang. Technically, because of her position he would become Alphonse Chang instead of her taking his name, but that would only be for formalities among the court. For the most part she would take his name.

Mei Elric. The very thought made him want to grin, and he very nearly did. It was more than just a possibility or a reality, it was happening.

Then a second gong rang out and the chorus of talking from inside the hall died.

It was the same hall that had been prepared for Ling at his wedding. He had managed to convince most everyone that they should arrange for the wedding to happen there because of the level of importance this wedding had. The first marriage between two people of the different countries under the new treaty. It helped that they were both of such importance in their respective cultures.

If things went wrong…

But no. Everything would go great. He was sure of it.

The music started playing and Al began a measured walk down the aisle in the middle of the hall. One step for every beat, he repeated in his head. That was what he had been told. One beat, one step forward.

He reached the center of the hall and stopped dead as the doors on the opposite side of the room opened.

He breathed in deeply when he saw her.

Mei looked beautiful. She always looked beautiful but in this particular moment she was more than breathtaking, it was more like… stealing every breath he had ever taken. He ruefully reminded himself that that actually wasn't as many as a man his age should have.

Her hair was shining like a liquid ink as it tumbled over itself on top of her head. Her face was only lightly painted: eyes outlined, lips red, and a little extra red color to her cheeks. Her dress was red silk with gold accents tracing their way all throughout the fabric. It matched his own set of red robes, though his had far less gold.

Even though all this made his fiancé even more beautiful than ever, it was the sight of her there, grinning at him that made him grin so widely he worried for his face.

Ling had told him who was actually going to be escorting her to him, and Al had been expecting some sort of negative emotion when he saw the man who had almost killed him a couple different times leading her down the aisle, but his sight was completely focused on her and there was nothing else.

When they finally made the journey, Scar placed Mei hand on his, muttered a few words to which Al nodded, and then turned around sharply and walked back down the aisle to his seat next to Japhious—an Ishvalan who had taken refuge with the Xingese during the War of Extermination and became friends with Mei after she moved to the palace. Mei smiled at him and Al squeezed her hand tightly.

They were getting married.

"Nervous?" she asked out of the corner of her mouth in Amestrian. He smiled back at her and answered in Xingese.

"Not at all. You're with me now."

Her smile only widened, if that was possible.

They began to walk down the perpendicular aisle together, neither of them really needing to look where they were going thanks to their sense of _qi_, instead keeping their eyes focused on each other. Finally, they did reach the alter where Ling, Lan Fan, Ed, and Winry waited. All four were wearing red, but only Ling and Lan Fan had gold as well.

"Normally this is where the honored Rongxing would recite the history and values of marriage," he said. "I do so in his place as both Emperor and the older brother of my dear sister. Alphonse Elric, you are the first Amestrian to ever wed the daughter of an Emperor. Mei Chang, you are the first daughter of Emperor to ever wed an Amestrian. Your marriage will be an example for all future joinings of two from these two different countries. It will be a heavy burden. You will be watched closely. Are you ready for this responsibility?"

They both answered yes at the same time.

"I believe you two are the perfect couple to exemplify all further marriages." There was a real smile on his face as he looked at them. Then he began to recite the traditional Xingese marriage rites. The history of marriage, the act of it, the proper way to act in it. The joining of two life forces so closely that they shall endure forever. When he finished however, he asked a very Amestrian question.

"Alphonse Elric, do you take Mei Chang to be your wedded wife to live together in marriage? Do you promise to love, comfort, honor and keep her for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health? And forsaking all others, be faithful only to her so long as you both shall live?"

"I do."

Ling repeated the phrase to Mei and she answered the same, not breaking eye contact with Al even as they both grabbed one of the conjoined cups sitting on the alter in front of them.

"Drink, and be married." That was all that was required for Ling to say. It was most certainly not a part of tradition for him to add the last comment in hissed Amestrain. "Don't forget to kiss afterwards."

Al heard Ed's soft snort, but ignored it in favor of drinking deeply from the cup at the same time as Mei.

Almost as soon as the cup left his face, hers was in its spot at his lips.

Al lifted her up and spun her around to the cheering of the crowd.

There was eating and laughing and plenty of teasing afterwards. Just like after Ling's wedding, the hall was cleaned and prepared for the feast afterwards. They sat at the largest table with the closest people to them. Mustang did have to sit at a separate table with his wife, but they both came up to congratulate them. Riza even permitted the newly married Princess to hold their baby for a while. This only evoked teasing from the rest of the attending about any future children of their own.

Everything was completely at ease and all the guest were happy. Al vaguely remembered Ling addressing a servant about too much or too little of this or something else, but he honestly couldn't remember. He was too wrapped up in the feeling of Mei's hand in his and the fact that _they were married _now to pay attention or care.

It was almost a custom among the Xingese for the bride and groom to try to sneak away before the night was over. Everyone expected for them to try to get away without being noticed before the night was over, and Al and Mei did not disappoint. However, it was also a Xingese tradition for members of the wedding party to try to stop them from getting away, one that their families took with relish. They might have been successful in getting away from Ling. They might have been able to be successful in getting away from Winry or Ed. They might have even been able to succeed in getting away from Lan Fan at a good moment, but all four of them together plus three children that were all attached to them and willing to shout out when they even shifted position… they didn't have a chance.

So, with their careful guard, it was impossible for them to get away any sooner than the very end of the entire night and feast. Finally, they were allowed to leave with cheers and cat calls— their punishment for not being more sneaky than their family.

Winry smiled and leaned against her husband for support an hour or so later. Benny and Sara were asleep and she was trying to get the makeup they had put on her off. Ed had escaped without it (apparently the women who had come in to do it had proclaimed him perfect after covering up a scar or two) and was being very helpful by acting as a secondary chair for her on the bed.

"How do you think they're doing?" he asked as she finally managed to scrub off the lipstick.

"Al and Mei? I'm sure they're fine. They have their own wing of the palace for the next week. We're not going to be seeing them for a while."

As it turned out, Al and Mei were not partaking in the usual wedding-night activities.

They had both passed out the moment they hit the bed.

* * *

**Haha, yeah, I've had that planned for a while. Passing out. Anyways, THEY'RE MARRIED NOW! YAY!**

**I hope it lived up to your expectations! I was kinda nervous about posting it, especially when I finished earlier than normal. So, hope you liked! Please tell me what you thought, I'd love to hear!**

***sly compliments/review seeking***

**In fact... we're at 78 reviews right now... would it be awful of me to ask to get to 100? I think that would be really cool to get 100 on the wedding chapter... 22 reviews total... come on, you know you want to do that... I'll do something really really nice for whoever gets 100... :D**


	13. Moments Like This

**Okay, so this is like really crazy super short, but I really had absolutely no clue what I was going to do for this chapter and so I didn't write it, and I didn't write it, and then I had something at 7:00 (Family history lecture: "Marriage, Murder, and a Munckhin, how cool is that?) and then it was 9:00 by the time I came back and I have to wake up early tomorrow to finish my stupid AP Bio homework, and there's just no way I could write a full chapter, especially since I *still* didn't know what it was going to be. But I really really really did not want to skip ANOTHER week and I thought, well, short is better than none, so here you go. Short contemplative fluff with a little cuddling that still maintains a K+ rating! AND ALL IN HALF AN HOUR. BOO-YHAH.**

**This is actually heavily inspired/stolen from another story I wrote for a completely different fandom and pairing. One I'm actually quite proud of.**

* * *

Al had always felt mixed feelings about travel.

Most people assumed that he loved it. And in a way he really, really did. Travel was amazing, he loved going around and meeting new people and seeing new things and learning about such different traditions and peoples and ways of life. It was a wonderful experience and he was very glad that he had had so much opportunity to do so in his life.

That being said, he hated it as well. It hadn't been so bad when he was in the armor because sitting for hours on end on a train didn't bother him much. He couldn't feel any physical discomfort and he was used to the boredom from long night stretching on for hours before the sun would rise and their day could start. When that end, he not only got the opportunity to smell the places he visited and taste the food, but he also got the chance to experience the back pain and the stiff necks and the inability to find any comfortable position to take a nap in (how Ed had managed to do so so frequently was beyond him). There was also the fact that the very act of traveling carried you away from people. That was a down side he had been very familiar with. When he was traveling with Ed, he was away from Winry and Granny. They were even away from Mustang and the team a lot of the time too. Even if he had the most important person with him, he missed the other people there. When he was in Xing, he was away from all of them. In the East, he was away from all of them plus the people he cared about in Xing. It wasn't an ideal situation. Sometimes he wondered how he managed to stand it.

Moments like this.

Mie was breathing softly and Al had to smile at her. He wondered if she realized how cute she was when she slept. It wasn't something he had just discovered while they were married, he had first noticed and become attached to it while they were traveling together. She wouldn't snore, but she would make some odd little whistling noise when she breathed out. It was rather similar to the noise Xiao Mei would make. He wondered if it just came from the fact the two had been together so long. He had heard that that happened to married couple after years of marriage. He wondered what might happen to him and Mei in twenty, thirty years. How many kids would they have? What would they look like? His gold eyes? His hair? Probably not since Mei's hair was so dark.

Girls or boys? Would they raise them in Xing or Amestris? Both? They would have to speak both languages. Be familiar with both cultures. But Al didn't think that'd be too hard. With their families, they would be able to get the best of all of it. They would definitely have a lot of resources and knowledge to draw on. With their father and Uncle's mistakes, and their mother and other Uncle's struggles, as long as none of them got too many of Ed's genes, they would be very well prepared for the world.

This gave Al pause and then he smiled sadly.

Only married a week ago and he was already thinking about his kids leaving.

He didn't even want to leave the bed and start getting ready to leave for Amestris for part of his honeymoon. And because Al spent most of his life being responsible and doing the right thing when and where he should (he was ignoring small details like sneaking out the night before the wedding or a prank here or there), he put his arm around his still sleeping wife (it was such a miracle in his mind to be able to call her that. His wife.) and buried his face in her shoulder. Maybe the day would just not come if he refused to get up.

"Al?" she muttered sleepily, the action probably having woken her up.

"You know, Mrs. Elric, if you try to get up now, we're going to be forced to stop cuddling and start the day. You don't want to do that, do you?"

He knew she was smiling, even though he was still breathing in her shoulder. "Well, how can I say yes to that, Mr. Chang?"

"I don't know. How about you don't?"

Mei didn't respond, instead cuddling deeper into his chest and arms. Al smiled before kissing her on the check and resuming his spot.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

* * *

**You see? Short. But better than nothing I hope. So I am still asking for reviews because we're 7 away from 100 and I would really like to have that. Something nice for 100th! PLLLEEEEAAAASSSEEE. **


	14. Memory Lane

**This one's kinda short too... sorry. But my legs are killing me (I walked over 13 miles yesterday) and I'm sick and I have to wake up super early tomorrow to finish my homework. :( **

**There are heavy mentions of one of my other stories "Sensitive Humans" s/7949576/1/Sensitive-Humans that follows what happens to Jerso and Zampano while/after they come to Xing, since I never really talk about it in GTFS. It's a pretty good one in my opinion. I go a lot more in depth into my head canon for alchemy/alkahestry applications and such.**

* * *

Al had been rather surprised when he learned that Scar had not left directly after the wedding. He had assumed by the explanation that Ling had given him that they had barely managed to pull the strings to get him to come for the wedding itself. This however was proven quite wrong when they were informed that he would be accompanying them to their first stop of their honeymoon: Ishval.

He wasn't sure he was entirely comfortable with spending hours upon hours in a small car with a man who had tried to kill him, but he was saved the awkward situation by Scar offering to leave them alone in the car cabin. Al wasn't sure if that was because he likewise felt awkward being around someone he had once tried to kill, or if it was not wanting to intrude upon a newly married couple.

Either way, he was appreciative of dodging that bullet.

Arriving in Ishval was an interesting experience. Al had stopped there before on train rides to and from Xing, but he had never actually taken the time to really try to experience it. He and Mei were well acquainted with trying to understand new cultures, so it was rather disconcerting to have a guide with them. Especially since it was Scar.

Al noted that many of the people they passed looked at Scar with complete respect and even adoration in their eyes.

It was actually quite refreshing to not be looked at like a mysterious god for being blond in a country he was not familiar with for one. It was also quite amusing to see the faces on many of the Ishvalan's faces when he managed to eat some of their "Let's make an Amestrian eat this and see their faces" foods and comment quite calmly on its flavor. Then the looks on their faces when he and Mei began to describe some of the other foods they had had to eat while traveling the East together. They all roared with laughter when Mei described him eating cat.

It was nice, Al thought as he turned red, that this could happen. Ten years ago, it would have been inconceivable that an Amestrian, Xingese, and some Ishvalans could be sitting at a table in Ishval talking and laughing like this.

The best part of all however, was getting to see the look on a certain doctor's face when Mei launched herself at him.

Dr. Marcoh had chosen to follow in the Colonel's footsteps and do his best to help with the Ishvalan restoration project. He had given up alchemy, refused to use it for any reasons. It didn't stop him from helping the people with more traditional medical practices. He had even been allowed to teach some of the Ishvalans how to be doctors themselves. He was overjoyed to see his old young companion and her little cat.

* * *

Al couldn't believe his eyes when the door was opened.

The girl looked at him strangely, as if trying to match a name to the face. It had been years after all, but…

"Elicia?"

Her brows crinkled as she frowned.

"Who are you?"

"Elicia, it's me. Brother Al?" Her frown deepened before it finally connected. Then her jaw dropped.

"Brother Al!" She gave him a large hug that he happily returned.

"When did you get so big? How old are you now?"

"I'm ten!" she happily proclaimed. Al ran a hand through his hair.

"No you're not. You're six at the oldest!"

"No!" She put her hands on her miniature hips and glared at him. "I'm ten!"

"Elicia, who is at the door?" Gracia moved into view in the back. Then she caught sight of who it was.

"Alphonse!"

He grinned at the sight of her. "Mrs. Hughes!"

"It's been so long since I've seen you, how are you? What are you doing in Central? How was Xing?"

Al smiled at her and pulled Mei into view. "Xing was absolutely amazing. It's actually a big part of why I'm here."

"Princess Chang, right?"

Mei blushed, touched that the woman had remembered her. "Actually, it's Mrs. Elric, now." A look of understanding entered Gracia's eyes and she smiled.

"I think you two have a story to tell."

* * *

"Alphonse!"

"Al!"

"Yo!"

Al grinned at all the members of the team he used to unofficially belong to. They all looked great. Falman was off in the North with Armstrong, but everyone else was there. Havoc, Breda, and even Furey. They all stood when they entered and quickly gave Al hugs each. Manly hugs. Then Havoc took one look at Mei and whistled.

"She sure is fine. You have a sister?" Al wasn't quite sure if he wanted to agree with Havoc or try to punch him. He finally decided to be content with Mei telling him that she had 18, each of whom had tried to kill her at one point or another in his life. And then Breda beginning to tease him about cheating on Catalina, to which Havoc hotly informed him that there was nothing between them. Furey just laughed awkwardly and congratulated both Al and Mei on their marriage.

Mustang arrived a few hours into the meeting, looking quite frazzled, claiming that the baby had kept him up all night and he had slept in far too late and Riza was going to kill him if he didn't bring home proof that he had finished all his paperwork when he came home or he was on diaper duty for the next month.

* * *

Both of them were dragged inside the moment he saw them at the door.

"It's only been what, two, three years?" Al grinned and accepted Jerso's hug and then the hug from his wife.

"Something like that," he said. "Where's Annie?"

"College," Jerso said proudly. "My little genius is going to be a doctor and save people's lives!"

"That's great!"

"It is," he said with a grin. Al smiled. It was great to see him so happy.

"So what's finally convinced you two to come back and see us? Finally get enough of that crazy place?"

"Xing? Nah. Did you hear the news?"

"… what news?"

When Mei showed the ring on her finger and Al put his arm around her, there was no way they were getting out of staying for dinner. Even if they had wanted to.

Zampano was less surprised. He had been following the gossip about them for months, apparently completely unsurprised when the news came out that they were together or engaged.

He was ecstatic to report that he and his son's relationship was progressing incredibly. Michael and his wife had him over for dinner every Sunday and he had even been allowed to hold his grandson for most of the night last time he was over there.

"He's the most adorable little boy! He's got the one tooth growing in on his bottom gum and when he smiles at you… your heart just melts! And he's already talking some. Calls Michael dada all the time." He paused for a moment and then gave them an eye. "Speaking of, when's one going to come along for you two?"

Both of them blushed and encouraged him to continue talking about his family.

* * *

Both of them were surprised when the door was opened by a woman.

"Hello?"

"… I'm sorry, we must be at the wrong house. We're looking for Dr. Knocks?"

"Yes, this is his house." Mei frowned.

"But…"

"I'm his ex-wife." Understanding dawned. Al tried to hold back a smile.

"Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously."

"I thought you two had separated."

"Yes, that is the point of "ex"-wife. I just come by and talk with him every once in a while." Al grinned.

"That's great. Can we see him?"

"What's your business with him?"

Al looked at Mei and frowned. "Um… old friends?"

It shocked his ex-wife so much she let them in.

* * *

Not even Mei reacted fast enough to avoid getting attacked by Teacher.

And, after an hour long fight, she yelled at Al for not staying in shape well enough, and then Mei for not keeping him in shape. When she was done doing so, she invited them in for lunch so that they could tell her more about what had been going on in their lives and what their plans were. She hadn't really gotten to talk with Mei during the Promised Day or Ed's wedding, so it was pretty close to a first meeting for them. Mei was very happy to gain her approval which was given upon their departure with a gruff farewell to Al of "Good choice."

They were given the invitation (order) to come back and visit.

* * *

Mei was happily curled against Al's chest as he ran his fingers through her just previously undone hair.

"It's pretty great," he said, breaking the comfortable silence, "how everyone's managed to move past all the horrible things that have happened to them."

"It is," she agreed.

"Marcoh's helping rebuild the people he damaged so much, Elicia's growing up wonderfully, the team's doing great as the Fuhrer's aids, Jerso and Zampano, Knocks, Teacher… It's pretty wonderful."

"You."

"Hmm?"

"You," she said, raising her head from his chest to look at him in the eyes. "You've moved past it wonderfully too, Al. You've put together a wonderful life from what you had. You have a wonderful family, experiences around the world that almost no one else would ever be able to have, incredible knowledge of alchemy and alkahestry, you're friends with the leaders of two nations… oh, and one more thing."

"An incredible wife?"

She reached up and kissed him.

"I was going to go with something more like 'A radiant deity in the form of a mortal that agreed to become your wife, but yes. And incredible wife."

* * *

**Hmm. Is it just me or did they get shorter towards the end? Maybe that's just me. Anyways, WE MADE IT TO 100 REVIEWS GUYS. SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO LIZLUKASIEWICA WHO GOT REVIEW NUMBER 100! YAY!**


	15. Place of Residence

**Lots of announcements at the bottom, so please stay tuned for all of them at the end.**

* * *

Upon returning to Xing once more after a week or so with Ed and Winry in Amestris, Al and Mei were in for a very big surprise. Neither of them had been paying a great deal of attention to the gifts they were being given at their wedding, a great deal more focused on the wedding part of it. Shortly after, they were a bit too preoccupied in another country with their honeymoon. Returning however meant that they had to deal with it. The servants were a great help, since they took a careful index of everything that had been given to them. While looking through the lists, and after a bit of addition, Al concluded that if they sold a few things, both of them could retire right then and there.

It was quite nice to get gifts from the entirety of the richest people in Xing. Ling had footed the bill of the complimentary gifts of money to all the guests during the wedding (Al had been quite amused at Ed's enthusiasm upon learning that at Xingese wedding, the couple gave gifts of money to the guests) so they didn't even have to pay back any major debts.

They continued to go through the list, making note of the people that would need a thank you card of some sort and the people that needed a personal visit in thanks. To send just a card would probably be an insult to someone who gave them, for instance, a house.

Which is exactly what Ling gave them.

Al and Mei stared at each other.

Then they stared at the paper.

Then at each other once more.

Then Al stared at the paper and Mei stared at him.

Then they switched.

"That's joking, right?" Al asked, jaw slack.

"… I don't know. It could very well be possible…"

"A_ house_?!"

"A _pre-furnished_ house."

"I… I'm guessing that's one of those gifts we have to thank in person."

".. Uh… yeah. And maybe clarify if it's true or not."

In fact, it actually was true. Ling and Lan Fan had debated over what to get the couple that could very easily get anything they wanted and already had everything they needed. Neither Al nor Mei were terribly ostentatious people and wouldn't want any of the Emperor's expected lavish and unnecessary gifts. Eventually it was the consideration of their post-wedding accommodations that had prompted the gift.

"We decided that we didn't want to have to deal with you two around the palace any more. Not with you two being all lovey dovey couple and all. So, the easiest way to do this and keep you close enough to be helpful was to buy you your own house! Don't worry about furnishing, we already took care of that. It was actually a lot of fun trying to figure out the right furniture to fit both of your personalities. Ed and Winry chipped in on a bunch of it, so you'll have to thank them for it too. It turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. And I do say so myself, so…" Ling grinned at the still slightly dumbstruck couple. "Just talk to Rein-Tie at get the address and key from her. And there is a need to thank me profusely, so I'll be expecting that when you come back."

Both of them stammered out a thank you before being almost shuttled away from his presence to the appropriate place to get their new address and key.

And that was where they were now standing.

In front of their house.

Al was actually quite surprised and how much he liked the look of it. It was a moderately sized house. Most of the houses one saw in Xing were either large and grand or simply huts where people could sleep. This one was perfectly in the middle. Two stories, from the look of it. It was large for just the two of them, but with two or three children, it would be just the right size.

"Do you want to go inside?" he asked Mei, who was still staring at it.

"… I don't know… I'm worried about what Ling might have done to the place." Al laughed and put an arm around his wife as they moved to the front door. Mei took a deep breath before slipping the key into the lock and opening to door to their house.

He wasn't quite sure what to expect. If he was expecting something awful, he was disappointed. The first sight just wasn't terribly impressive. It was just a hallway. A rather large hallway, but only a hallway. The wood was dark and impressive looking he supposed. He was more impressed by the paintings along the walls. Xingese landscapes, alternated between symbols for good luck and fortune. There was a single door interrupting the smooth flow of the hallway.

"Do you want to stop for every door or just look at the whole thing first?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow and gesturing at the door. She shrugged and moved to open the door herself.

Al was incredibly impressed once she did.

The door led to their own little garden/courtyard. The entire thing was surrounded, on two sides by walls similar to that of the outside house which explained why he couldn't tell it was there, on the other by the same wood that made up the hallway. The many planters were filled with all of Al's personal favorites from the Imperial garden. A small fountain gurgled in the middle.

He turned to grin at her, but she just nodded appreciatively.

"No good Xingese home is complete without a courtyard."

There was another door in the corner of the courtyard, but they ignored it in favor of backtracking into the hallway. They turned the hallway, and then even Mei was impressed.

The living room and parlor had been combined into one, just like Xingese and Amestrian culture in this room. There were couches along with decorative chairs and cushions to sit on the floor on, low tables, and higher tables with displayed Xingese figures and animals on them. When they turned, they could see a table that greatly resembled Granny's (only larger) surrounded by chairs that did the same. Behind the table was a counter separating the room from a modest kitchen.

There were three doors, a hallway, and some stairs branching off from this large central area. The first and closest led to what could only be their own room. It was easily dominated by the bed, but the closet and dressers took their fair share of space as well. Probably a dig from Ling about Mei having too much clothes, but any offence it was intended to do was lost in their wonder at everything. Two twin bookcases were filled to the brim with alchemy and alkahestric books and scrolls.

Naturally, the book cases were the ones that drew the majority of their attention.

"I love this book! It's the one that gave me the idea of how to reverse chimeraism, do you remember?"

"This was the first book I made you read! You could barely make it through the first sentence without needing my help."

"This book is actually from the ruins of Xerses. It's got to be_ priceless_."

One door led off to the bathroom.

They almost didn't move on, to absorbed with looking through the various texts Ling had provided them, but eventually Mei closed the book she was skimming and reminded Al there was still the rest of the house to be explored.

The other door was another room, barely furnished with a bed and a few Xingese paintings. A guest room, or ready to be remodeled for a child.

The stairs led to the upper layer, which consisted of three more bedrooms decorated similar to the other, a bathroom, and a large foyer almost. It was similar to the central room of Ed and Winry's flat in Rushvalley.

When they finally moved down the hallway, there were only two more areas to be explored. There was another courtyard, larger than the first, but pretty much the same. Al's favorites from the Imperial garden, a small pond instead of a fountain, and a large open area that was clearly intended for their sparring use.

There were two doors that seemed to lead to the same area, which they then entered.

And promptly fell in love with.

A library.

It was safe to say they were going to be spending a great deal of time in that room. The entire library was larger than their room, and there wasn't a single wall that wasn't covered floor to ceiling with bookshelves. More invaded the center of the room. The only floor space that wasn't dominated by bookcases was the room to walk in between them and enough room for two desks and their accompanying chairs.

"Some of them are empty."

"What?" Mei asked, eyes wide as she stared at everything.

"Some of the book cases. In the back. They're empty." He grinned. "Room for us to expand the collection ourselves."

She smiled back at him before he picked her up happily, spinning her around. She held onto his head and laughed as he did so.

"This is our house, Mei! _Our_ house!" She was still laughing as he dropped her back onto her feet. "Where we are going to live. Where our children are going to live and grow up… Where we're going to have our family."

Her grin matched his.

"And Ling didn't even mess it up."

"I love it. Now, if he had added some more pink to our bedroom…" He smiled at her before cupping her face and kissing her soundly.

"Our house."

She held onto one of his hands and smiled when he pulled away. "So what are we going to do to familiarize ourselves with our new house?"

"Do you have something in mind?"

She smiled and whispered for him to close his eyes. He did so, a smirk at the corner of his lips, but was rather confused when she pulled away and her _qi_ moved across the room. He thought she moved to the door. It sounded like she was standing in a doorway when she next spoke.

"Count to fifty and try to find me. And no _qi_, Al. That's cheating."

Was she seriously suggesting… they play Hide-and-Go-Seek?

He was grinning as he counted to fifty.

Al played to the rule Mei had given him, not relying on his sense of qi to find his wife hiding quite cleverly underneath the dresser in their room. It took him ten or fifteen minutes to do so, and when he had succeeded she waited for him to go hide in the closet of one of the upper rooms. She took less time to find him, but not by much.

They continued playing for two or three hours, when Al finally ended it by hiding right behind her. When she finished counting and turned around to take stalk of the room, she was quickly engulfed in a bear hug that made her squeal and try to get out of it. "Al!" she shouted as she struggled, but he continued to hold on until she succumbed to his might (or at least, that's what he announced had happened once she did).

* * *

"So, did you two kids have fun with your new house?" Ling asked when they arrived at the palace for a particularly important court session the next day.

Mei hugged her brother, not caring about the taken aback expressions on many of the surrounding people's faces.

"We love it Ling. Thank you."

* * *

**Apologies for the lots of rambling about their house. I actually took out the time to draw a whole layout for it and stuff, so I was pretty excited about actually knowing everything. If anyone wants, I can clean it up and post it on my deviant account for you guys to see like I did the map of the east.**

**So, lots of announcements. I saved them for the end in case any of you skipped in favor of reading the chapter.**

**First and biggest of all:**

**ALMEI WEEK.**

**YUS. ARL-PHONSE/QUEEN-ARLYN ON DEVIANT RESPECTIVELY (don't know who she is on tumblr, but if you follow the AlMei tag on there, you know her) IS ORGANIZING AN ALMEI WEEK. THIS IS THE MOST WONDERFUL DEVELOPMENT OF ALL TIME. OF ALL TIME. Okay, no. That's probably cheese. Or salt. Definitely salt. But, IT IS AN AMAZING IDEA AND I COMMAND YOU ALL TO PARTICIPATE. For right now, the dates are June 9-15. If you want to suggest themes, you can either give them directly to her on tumblr if you know who she is, deviant art at arl-phonse (on the journal entitled ALMEI WEEK) or you can review them and I'll pass them along. There will be voting for the final themes later. YOU ALL HAVE TO PARTICIPATE PLEASE. WE HAVE TO MAKE IT AS BIG AS WE CAN SO THAT FUTURE GENERATIONS OF FANS WILL CELEBRATE THIS WONDERFUL COUPLE AS WELL.**

**Second: Here's your chance to maybe see one of your ideas in my story!**

**Yeah… I'm pretty much clueless as to what I can do with these guys until she's preggers. Once she's there, I know pretty much most of what I'm going to do. Until then… I need help. My sister can only give me so many ideas before she's about to bite off my head with annoyance. So if you have any suggestions, small plot thing or just an opportunity for mindless fluff, you very well might see it featured in here! Yay! Exciting! You will obviously get credited and widely thanked. I don't really want to go much higher than a K+ rating.**

**Third: If there are artists among my readers… I need you. I had. The. PERFECT PICTURE IN MY HEAD. Unfortunately I can't really draw. I can draw over someone else's drawing and even modify it and have it turn out pretty good. But I'm hopeless when it comes to line art. Normally I would go "Man, that stinks. Oh well." But this is just too perfect to not exist in the world. So, if you are a good artist, please either PM me or say something on my deviant art account. It's the same one as this one "ClosetFMAfan". There's a link to it on my profile if you need.**

**Okay. 400 word AN over.**


	16. Distractions

**Do you want to hear my excuse for last week or are you tired of hearing them? *sigh* Sooooorrrrrryyyyyy. But it was Mother's Day and I wasn't even studying for my AP Biology test. So... BUT NOW THE AP TESTS ARE OVER! Any of you guys take them too? I only took Biology and European History. If anybody took them too, I'd be interested to know.**

**At the end of last week I asked for an artist to draw a particular image in my head, and I gave the decription to arl-phonse/Queen Arlyn/thesoulboudnalchemist and this chapter is kinda based of one of those cute couply things Al and Mei are going to be doing the rest of their marriage/lives and in part that image/picture.**

**The picture can be found here: arl-phonse dot deviant art (dot com) / art /For-ClosetFMAFan -370895708  
**

**I also gave the description to Ivy Short, but she has not finished her picture yet (I'm sure if you went and bugged her about it she'd finish it faster :D)**

* * *

Mei cast a sly glance across the table at the man who sat across from her.

She didn't fear of him looking up and catching her gaze. No, Alphonse Elric was oblivious to the rest of world, that was apparent enough.

He had a pen tucked behind on ear, clearly forgotten about because he was tapping another one against the page of a book he was studying intently. He was chewing one lip, just the hint of a white tooth sticking out over the pink lips. His gold hair was falling in his face, and he impatiently pushed it back before scribbling some notes on a paper next to him. She didn't need to look at the paper to know that his handwriting was as flawless as ever.

He turned a page and continued to read, absent mindedly reaching out to grab his long ago emptied cup of coffee. It was all the way to his lip before he realized it was empty.

He started blankly at the empty cup.

"… Why is it empty?"

Mei smiled at the page of her book.

"Perhaps because you drank it?"

"… huh."

"Do you want me to go fill it up for you?" He smiled at her (she refused to admit that it almost made her melt on the spot).

"Please and thank you?"

"I spoil you. If you keep drinking this stuff and doing nothing but studying, you're going to end up getting fat."

He sheepish smile morphed into more a smirk. "And my beautiful wife wouldn't like that, would she?"

"No," she responded thoughtfully. "She rather wouldn't. Especially since I love to brag about how amazing you look shirtless. An ugly belly would rather ruin that." He laughed and smiled as she grabbed the cup and left the room. Xiao Mei jumped off her shoulder and joined Al on his. He happily accepted the small panda, tickling her under the chin a little, eliciting a playful bite that he managed to avoid. Mei stopped at the door to look back at him and found him already intently focused on the book he was reading again.

Mei's soft smile carried with her all the way to the kitchen.

She loved him. It hadn't changed at all the past year, expect for getting stronger. She loved his incredible moments of sweetness. She loved that small frown he would always get when he was really focused. She loved the way he would work about researching a certain problem. She loved the way that he would leave said research to be with her when she wanted or needed him. She loved… oh, there were a million things she loved about her husband and she could spend a life time trying to figure them all out. She was more than willing to.

Mei had never really been attracted to the drink Al was so hooked on. The smell had never appealed to her, and when Al got like this, where he was drinking it almost nonstop to keep himself going on a project, well… she wasn't exactly encouraged to develop the habit of drinking it herself. Tea was more than fine enough for her.

Despite this, she found herself quite accomplished at making it.

When she returned to the library (a short trip, she suspected that Ling planned it that way), however, Al was not intently narrowed in on the thick book on the table in front of him. Instead, he was leaned back in his chair and staring off into the distance, pen loosely dangling from his fingers on the pages.

"Al?"

He started and turned towards her. "Huh?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Hmm? Oh, no, everything's fine."

She stared at him a little, before giving him the cup and taking her own seat. She tried picking up her own book and continue reading it, but found her attention quite diverted by the fact that Al had not resumed his study.

"Al, are you sure everything's alright?"

"I'm just thinking," he said easily, smiling at her.

She nodded and resumed her reading. It was quite an interesting text, discussing the exact point which separated saving someone's life and trying to bring them back to life. Alkahestry had been known to revive someone dead as long as four minutes. The author had compiled almost every known material about the issue and the ethical and moral issues related to it. She was quite interested by his thesis, especially considering her own involvement with such a situation. Al had expressed his own interest in taking a look at it when he finished his current project. She was expecting him to ask her to take a look at the letter he would draft to the author as well.

She got so involved in the book, she didn't even notice Al's eyes on her as she read.

He loved her.

He had attempted styling her hair for her that morning and was actually rather pleased with the attempt. It wasn't anything fancy, nowhere near the intricacy that the hair dressers at the palace could achieve, but she had told him when he finished that she would take him playing with her hair over a delicate hairdo any day. It was just a single bun with a little extra braid trailing down her back. The braid was falling over her shoulder and touching the page with its tips. As he watched, she flipped it back behind her and refocused on her reading.

He watched her eyes dart from side to side as she soaked up the information on the page. For having protested to having to learn to read Amestrian so much, she certainly took advantage of it now that she could. She still didn't quite have the mastery that came from years of little else, but she would if they continued to spend most of their days like this.

He glanced back down at the pages he was reading and tapped the page with the back of his pen. Well why hadn't he seen that before? That was absolutely perfect. He scribbled it down in his notebook and continued his perusal of the text.

Mei had looked up when Al tapped the page with his pen and found herself once again captivated by, well, him. It wasn't fair that he was distracting her from her reading like this. Stupid Amestrian with his stupid eyes and his stupid perfect hair that fell in his face like that (she should probably make him cut his hair soon or it would start getting long like Ed's. And he was only allowed to keep it short or grow it out long enough to resemble her original fantasies of his brother) and even the stupid fact that when he was leaning over like that she could see down his shirt and no, he was not growing a belly from all the coffee and reading (though she was sure it was only a matter of time- perhaps it was time to make use of the sparring area Ling had so kindly added to their home). She really wanted to read this book!

So she dogmatically refocused herself on the text and continued her reading, just barely missing Al looking up himself. This time he was admiring the curve of her face and the way it made her just seem like an old soul placed in a young body. He loved that about her. That someone so intelligent and mature could still have such a childlike playful spirit like she did.

Then she looked up herself and caught him staring at her.

Both of them turned slightly red and returned their attentions to their respective pages, embarrassed at being caught staring at the other.

Finally, Mei stood up.

"Where are you going?" he asked, frowning.

"I'm going to the living room."

"Did I do something to bother you? I can stop…" She smiled reassuringly while at the same time thinking: _Only existing_.

"No, I just want a more comfortable chair. It's fine, Alphonse."

It was the Alphonse that tipped Al off that she was annoyed with him about something. But he let her left because with them, it was probably better to let her just sit on it, maybe give her a little space before trying to figure out of their was an issue. He didn't want her getting mad at him, which would only make things worse. Especially if he got mad back.

So he waited almost a full hour, until he was agitatedly tapping his fingers and pen on the book. He didn't like this.

So he himself got up and migrated to the living room.

Mei indeed had opted for a more comfortable chair; she was sitting on the couch, leaning against one of the arms with her legs spread out across the rest of it. He smirked at the sight of her and the focused look on her face. He smirked even wider at her expression when she looked up and saw him.

"Can I join you?"

She glanced down at her book, almost as if she was worried of something (odd), and then back up at him. Finally:

"I'm not moving."

"I can deal with that." Mei was slightly confused, seeing as the couch was his personal favorite spot to sit in the whole room, until he lifted his feet up, sat down, and deposited them in his lap.

"… are you serious?" Xiao Mei was still perched on his shoulder and gave her owner an almost… superior look.

"Of course, Mei? Why would I not be?"

She just paused and stared at her husband, not quite believing, before grinning widely and looking down at her book. He smiled back at her and relaxed in his position on the couch.

"Get your feet off the coffee table, Al."

* * *

**That will also be a reoccurring theme in their marriage. Feet off the table. **

**Also, didn't mention this at the top, for everyone who was trying to get me into Tumblr, I would like to all to take a look at my "Tumblr statement" on my profile. I think it's easier to have everyone go look at that then try to explain to you all individually. **


	17. April's Showers Brings Mei Flowers

**So I really had no clue whatsoever what I was going to do with this one when i started writing it. It just kinda happened. But I think it turned out pretty good for having just happened.**

* * *

"Ambassador Elric, you wished to make a statement, correct?"

Al nodded and stood, letting go of Mei's hand. He began to make his practiced formal petition to the Xingese court on the behalf of his nation. He had practiced in front of her for hours the past few days and if he messed up now, Mei would kill him for making her endure all that for failure. It didn't seem like he was having a problem so far though. If she had her eyes closed, she might have even mistaken him for a Xingese-born member of the court.

She couldn't help but take slight pride in the fact that she had trained him that well.

Of course it had nothing to do with the time he spent in the country, of course not. It was all her influence.

"We would not dare to presume so much from you, Your Imperial Highness, but Amestris has always counted on you to be faithful consumers of our industrial goods."

"I have to support my own people, do I not, Ambassador Elric? Why should I continue to buy your goods if I can produce them in my own country for cheaper and provide my people with jobs at the same time? Would you have them go jobless for your own economy?"

"Of course not, Your Majesty. As I said before, we would never presume to ask so much from you, merely that you stay mindful of our needs. It would be a shame and a mistake, as well as morally crushing for myself, personally, if an issue as small as this were to disturb our newly established peace."

"Is it not a line in the treaty itself, that we have all rights to pursue our own interests, innovation, and initiation in economy? By asking us to slow our own production you violate that treaty, do you not?"

"I never asked that of you, Your Majesty. I would never ask that. But it also an agreement in the same treaty to cite that your nation maintain mutually beneficial established trade agreements."

The Emperor of Xing stared into the Ambassador's eyes for a long while in silence before he eventually began laughing.

"Oh, who would have ever imagined sweet innocent Alphonse Elric becoming a Politian? Especially one who could do his job so well."

"Fuhrer Grumman, Your Majesty. And… I believe I should thank you for that comment."

Ling grinned at him. "Alright, Ambassador. We'll take another look at our options and give you the reports so that you can report back to Fuhrer Mustang."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

He sat back down and smiled at Mei, who squeezed his hand. "Good job."

They didn't do much else for the final hour of the court session, mostly just watching the proceedings and trying to pay attention. It ended soon enough though, and they left together, Al chivalrously offering her his arm. She was happy to take it and they made their way away from the palace.

She was surprised, however, to find that when they got in the car, Al did not drive them home.

"Al?" He didn't respond, just smiling at her in response and continued to drive. Driving through the streets of Xing was a slow process, thanks to all the people. Cars weren't still on the up in both nations, but in Xing they were very much only for the rich who could afford them. Al and Mei had bought theirs with money from the wedding, but hadn't had much use for it. Since no one really had cars in Xing, the streets and people weren't terribly adapted to having them around. This meant that trying to actually drive through the capital became quite the challenge. And it was one of the most car-friendly cities in the country.

But they eventually did make progress and broke through the edge of the city. Leaving the city behind increased the progress until they had finally arrived at their destination.

"Al is this…"

He smiled again and pulled on his hand. "Come on. I want to show you something."

"What!" she said, not sure whether she was laughing or honestly annoyed.

"Hurry up and you can see!"

He led her on a merry hunt through the trees of the woods that grew on the mountains surrounding Chengshi.

Eventually she decided that this had got to be some sort of punishment for when she used to drag him around in these same woods for alkahestry lessons.

Well. If there was anything she had learned about Al, he could be vindictive when he wanted to be. First with the reading, now this…

She definitely recognized the clearing when they arrived however.

"This is where I used to teach you," she said, turning around. There was the slash on the tree from when one of Al's attempt to throw his alkahestric blades when rather wrong, there was a half drawn circle that had never quite gotten erased, and that was the rock that she liked to sit on while she watched him struggle. She looked down at the ground and noticed a lone knife in the dirt, pink ribbon now dirty and limp. So that's why she would always seem to be one short…

"Why do you bring me here? Reliving old memories?"

"Not quite… I wanted to do something special for you, Mei." She nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on him. "And I thought here was the best place to do it."

"Why is that?"

"Because if it wasn't for your efforts here, this would never have been possible for me." He smiled and then let go of her hands, which he hadn't let go of the entire time they had begun to trek through the forest, and got down on his knees.

He pulled something out of his pocket and held it up for her to see. It was something small and round that she didn't quite recognize.

"This is a Moth Orchid seed. I got them while we were in the east, but never did anything with them, really. I found them going through my stuff a few weeks ago, though and wanted to do something special with them for you. So… well. You'll see."

He scooped a few handfuls of dirt out of the ground and buried the seed in the moist soil, covering it up with the dirt and patting it down. Mei raised an eyebrow. He had dragged her all the way out here just to plant a seed? That was sweet, but it did seem a little unnecessary to come all the way out here. And if he really wanted to do something with it, why not plant it in their own gardens?

Then he began drawing a circle around it.

… Huh?

She came closer and watched as he began to add the matrix. She couldn't quite follow all of it. It didn't seem like the individual symbols made any sense at all. Even when she looked at it from an alchemic view instead of alkahestric, it didn't make sense.

Then he added a circle in the middle, connecting the three inner triangles and her jaw slowly dropped.

"Al… this is… this is…"

He clapped his hands together and touched the array.

There was no immediate effect, and Mei started to worry if it maybe didn't work, but after half a minute or so, a small shoot of green poked out of the earth. The shoot continued to grow, getting taller and taller, eventually shooting off a leaf or two. Before her eyes, a spike poked out from above the leaf and continued to elongate and swell, until the green peeled back and a purple flower began to peak forth and open.

Al removed his hands and the growing stopped.

"Al…"

"I'm going to call it the Mei Flower Array. It will probably get changed along the way by someone who thinks it's referring to the month, but… It's named after you."

"Al… This is wonderful. You've… You've managed to…"

"Yeah. It's really not complicated at all when you think about it. Everything the plant needs is in that one little seed. It's like using alkahestry to close a wound; the basic principle behind that is that you use their life force to accelerate the growth and thereby the healing of the wound. It's the same idea, but you use alchemy's rules to guide its growth. I don't think something like this would actually work for animal life, it's more complicated and complex than plant life, but…"

"Al, do you realize what you've done?" She stared at him, jaw still slightly slack.

"I think so…"

"You've… this is a huge breakthrough. In alchemy in alkahestry… this will change the way we look at these two arts for… forever. The way you did that array? It's absolutely perfect according to both alchemic and alkahestric principles. Perfectly balanced and the way you conjoined the two arrays with the circle in the middle… Al this is a masterpiece. Some people would go their whole lives and never come up with anything like this. _Most _people go their whole lives and never come up with anything like this."

He smiled a little. "I just wanted to give my wife a nice present for a three month anniversary."

She stared at him and then a grin spread across her face. "I've married the sweetest, most intelligent man on this earth."

"Well. I don't want to brag…"

She bent over and stroked the petals of the orchid. "And it's perfect… No one would be able to tell the difference between this and a normal flower… Al, it's amazing."

"You're amazing."

"No, Al, I'm serious, this is genius—"

"So was I."

She just had to kiss him for that one.

* * *

**I would just like to bring attention to the fact that there is a new poll up on my profile if you would like to check that out. It'll probably be up there until I run into a question that I actually do need answered. Don't worry! The subject of the question won't actually happen soon, just want to know what ya'll think.**

**Also, there were almost twice the amount of people voting for these two to have a girl over a boy. I find that interesting.**


	18. Dance

**Thanks to RuinsofXerxes who gave me the idea for this chapter! Plus Gerald Lund. And that one story i read that one time I can't remember the name of and am honestly too lazy to go try and find.**

* * *

"Give me just another second… one itsy bitsy… almost there… and the future period, done! Ha!" Al made sure to emphasize the period at the end of the sentence he was writing. "Mei! I finished!"

"Finally," she commented from behind him. "You've been working on that all day and you were still threatening making us late."

"Well I'm done with research for the day now. And I managed to get a lot done! Remember how I was trying to figure out the mass energy ratio for the conjunction circle? Well—"

"Al, could you help me with some of these buttons I can't reach?"

Al could tell when his wife was trying to get him to shut up.

"You can just tell me to stop talking, Princess."

"Don't call me that," she said automatically. She hadn't really had to seriously tell him not to call her that since the first few weeks that Al had arrived in Xing. He never quite tired of teasing her with it, however it was usually also accompanied with her calling him Alphonse.

"What if I called you my Princess?"

"Hmm… Passable." He smiled as he quickly began to do up the last few buttons on her dress. It was one of the newer styles of formal dresses- far less layers and more flattering. Some of the Xingese thought that the new fashion was scandalous, but Mei snorted at the protestations and would always mutter something at Al in Amestrian about what they would think if they ever saw Winry when it was hot in her workshop. Really, it was just formal fashion catching up to casual. Most Xingese women didn't care much about having dresses or shirts with waists. Al can't ever really remember his wife wearing some of the straight styles that were leaving all senses of fashion. Seamstresses were only recently narrowing the bodice on formal wear though.

They were losing layers though. Which was very convenient for Al trying to help Mei get dressed.

He slipped the last two buttons into their holds, but didn't drop them quite yet, instead lowering his head so his face was hovering right above her neck.

"You know," Al murmured, his lips only centimeters away from the nape of her neck, "I would be more than happy to skip going and find our own entertainment."

Mei smiled and bumped her husband with her hips. "I thought you said you were done with researching for the day."

"I wasn't exactly thinking about research." He dropped the fastened button onto her neck and spun her around, arms around her waist. She fit her arms around his neck and happily accepted his gentle kisses, balking only when they began to get more intense.

"If you keep doing that, you're going to ruin my hair." He sighed.

"So I guess staying home is a no?"

"I'm afraid so. If you had talked to me about it before perhaps I might have been able to give you different answer, but I did agree we would go. And might I remind you that you, as an important dignitary, are obligated to be there as well."

"Well what if I don't want to be an important dignitary?"

"Then you can stay home alone while _I_ go."

He took a deep wounded breath in. "Fine, you win. I'll get my _robes _on." While Al very much enjoyed wearing some styles of Xingese clothing, over Amestrian sometimes, and he wasn't particularly fond of restrictive suits… the Xingese idea of formal clothing for men was just… ridiculous. Unfortunately, the change in fashion had not quite made its way to men's formals.

"You do that." She kissed him again quickly before bouncing over to the bathroom. Al watched her with a small smile on his lips before she turned around at the door and said in a cheerful voice. "Besides Al, we can always entertain ourselves after the ball."

He was holding back the grin as he finished adding all the layers.

* * *

"Princess Mei Chang and Ambassador Elric."

Al and Mei nodded at the man who had announced them and moved into the whole room. It was decorated quite lavishly, as with all Xingese Royal functions. This particular ball was in celebration of the completion of one of Ling's internal expansion projects. Thanks to the tireless work of thousands of Xingese workers, it was now possible for someone to begin in any of Xing's 50 providences, and travel to any of the other 49 without having to switch trains once. The construction projects were only spiderwebbing out from there. He was already working on plans to improve inner-providence travel through the clans and she knew for a fact that he had a pet project of trying to improve the trains themselves. He had asked her and Al to come in and talk to some of the men working on the project.

There was a lot of activity going on. Functions such as this usually started with an extravagant meal which was then followed by dancing or just milling around and talking to people. However, in the spirit of the working men who had made the completion of the project possible, it was an "Informal Formal Event! Come on, Lan Fan it will be fun!" The two were combined, with tables provided for eating when the guests chose to, and a long row of tables laden with food to be grabbed and brought back to the table, while there were already people beginning to dance and mingle.

"Would you like to eat or dance first?"

"Let's eat first, there aren't enough people dancing yet."

Al nodded and they quickly arranged their plates with various foods and sat down. The food was just as "working men" themed as the ball itself, so most of the cuisine consisted of the types of things that the men working on the railroads would have been eating as they worked. There was also a large sampling of dishes from every Providence (another one of Ling's pet projects— to collect the best recipes from every Providence and have the Palace cooks learn how to prepare them). Both of them were more than happy with the food provided, having eaten many diverse foods and "working men's food" quite a bit in their time. Some of the other attendees however seemed to be terribly confused as to the foods, how to eat them, and the expressions on some of their faces upon their first bites were quite hilarious.

"That's Fire Meat."

"Huh?"

Mei pointed at the thin strips of meat he was picking up with his chopsticks. "That's Fire Meat. Do you remember that?"

He looked at it, trying to remember. Then it hit him. "You sent me the recipe, didn't you? Before I came to Xing, you sent it as an example of Xingese cuisine!"

"Exactly."

"I wanted to try it, but there were too many spices that we would have had to order specially. Winry was willing to try but I didn't want to make any trouble for her…"

"Well, now you get the chance to try it prepared by some of the best cooks in all of Xing. Enjoy." He smiled and continued to eat.

While they were eating, however, another couple came to join them.

An Amestrian woman and a Xingese man that were holding hands.

"Princess Chang? Ambassador Elric?" Both of them looked up, Al with sauce smeared on his face. The woman giggled a little behind a hand and Al grinned sheepishly and wiped it off.

"Yes?"

"We've very to disturb you, Princess," the Xingese man said, taking the lead and speaking more directly to Mei. She was of a higher status than him, so it was only polite for the man to do so. "My name is Po Ching and this is my wife, Liz."

"You're wife?" The man smiled hesitantly.

"Yes." He looked over at her and she smiled back. "My wife. We met while I was working on the Amestrian/Xingese international railroad. I was one of the workers and she was delivering lunch to her father, who was one of the managers of the project when we met. She tripped over some spare spikes laying around and I managed to catch her. I was never much of a romantic, Princess. I never held much stalk in it at all, but when I looked into her bright blue eyes… It was love at first sight." He stopped to stare at his wife one again and Al and Mei both smiled at each other.

"We saw you sitting over here," this time it was the Amestrian speaking in hesitant Xingese. She wasn't awful, but no one would ever mistake her as a native speaker, "and we wanted to tell you what an inspiration you've been to us. We had no idea how to go about our relationship. He's Xingese, I am Amestrian, he was just a railroad worker, my father was one of the men personally chosen by Fuhrer Grumman to manage the project, we weren't even supposed to have met, let along fallen in love. We met in secret for years… until you two."

"Us?"

"You two are the first publicly recognized and supported internationality relationship… marriage between our two nationalities. Without your example we never would have been able to get married. And we just really wanted to say thank you."

"Yes. Thank you," the man said, mirroring his wife's sentiment.

"… Thank you. I'm… I'm so glad that we could do that for you." Mei glanced back at Al, who was looking at the couple with an expression that she was sure was very similar to hers.

The other couple smiled.

"Would you like to sit with us?"

They enjoyed their conversation with Po and Liz. They were both fairly sharp, even though Po hadn't really had much opportunity for education. Both of them were terribly impressed by Mei and Al and the way they worked together and were more than happy to listen to their story as well. Ling himself even came over to talk to Al and Mei and had a short conversation with the two.

Both looked like they were going to pass out, having a conversation with the Emperor himself.

"Thank- Thank you for the invite You- Your Majesty."

Ling just waved it away. "This couldn't have happened without workers like you. I wish I could have invited more of your fellow workers, but I do have to appeal to bureaucrats. If I invited you instead of them they'd be too cross to allow more of these projects."

He informed Al and Mei that he needed them to talk about something with someone else and they complied, saying their farewells with the other couple.

The conversation went well, not very eventful, they just had to clear up a few issues and then they were set free. The Chings had already disappeared, so they instead made their way onto the dance floor.

"That was… something else."

"I knew we were going to have an effect on relationships like that, but… having them actually come up and thank us… That was amazing."

"It sure was." They smiled at each other and Al spun her out and then back into his arms so that her back was against her chest.

"Remember dancing in the rain?"

"Of course."

He spun her out once again, this time letting go of her hand before bowing deeply. "May I have this dance, Princess?"

"We were already dancing, Al."

He didn't respond, just keeping his hand outstretched. So she rolled her eyes and took it. "You're crazy."

"Naturally, my lady. That's why you married me, isn't it?" She was smiling as he grabbed her waist and lifted her up in the air. This was quickly followed by a series of steps that led them all around the dance floor, cleverly avoiding bumping into anyone. Both of them were laughing and smiling at each other the entire time.

The night did eventually end and people trickled away and then it was announced for everyone to go home. Al finished twirling his wife a few more times before catching her in his arms.

"Should I sneeze now?"

* * *

**The character Liz is a shout out to LizLukasiewicz, who was reviewer 100! She asked to be in-cooperated into the chapter instead of getting a spoiler. I do offer spoilers to people who get big mark reviews like 100, 200, hey, considering how few reviews I've been getting recently (What? Begging for reviews by inspiring pity? Pfft. Nooooooo... please review) probably even 150.**

**ALSO. BIG NEWS. ALMEI WEEK. ONE WEEK AWAY. THE PROMPTS HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED. I ALREADY HAVE THEM ALL ON MY CALENDAR. THIS SCHEDULE IS FROM MEMORY AND IT'S 100% CORRECT.**

**Sunday: Ulterior Motives"  
Monday: Tradition  
Tuesday: Teacher  
Wednesday: Travel  
Thursday: Home  
Friday: Early Mornings (that's the one I suggested!)  
Saturday: Breath and Pulse.**

**You technically don't have to do all the prompts on the day, if you're uber busy on Wednesday, you can still write about Travel but if you can keep to it...**

**Is there anything I can do to inspire you to write for this? I WANT /FULLMETALALCHEMIST FLOODED WITH ALMEI. LET'S BEAT THE ROYAI AND EDWIN AND ROYED AND MARY SUES AND WHATEVER ELSE. SPREAD THE JOY OF ALMEI LIKE A FATAL DISEASE!**

**:D**


	19. Nightmares

**BIG EMERGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT**

**ALMEI WEEK HAS BEEN CHANGED. DON'T POST YOUR WONDERFUL STORIES AND OR ART YET! The prompts are still the same and everything but… Apparently it was accidently scheduled the same week as Royai Day… so yeah, it had to be changed. There is poll up for when it will be moved to, and I will keep you posted on when the date gets changed to. I will not be moved to next week, thank goodness, because Cazz is going to be in Florida and I am going to be up in the mountains. I like to think that me not being able to participate would block out a week, maybe I'm just flattering my ego (which come on guys, does it need to be any bigger? The answer to that is yes.) So I will tell you when it is moved to and if you want to contribute to the dates yourself please do, the link to the poll will be on my profile because it's too much of a hassle to post it here.**

**Also, I'm thinking about changing the day I update this over the summer. I just don't feel entirely comfortable writing and posting on Sunday's anymore and it seems like half the time they aren't even getting done. So I would like you all to please tell me in a review what day you think I should update on, maybe you don't have access to a computer on Thursdays or something. If you really don't care and would read anyways… leave a review anyways? :D**

* * *

"_This body comes with many inconveniences. But inconveniences don't make me miserable! There is no reason for you to pity me! My life was put back together with alchemy by my brother. If I deny myself, that would mean denying my brother, along with alchemy. I believe in the potential that alchemy holds. I want to believe in it!"_

Alphonse Elric has never regretted his brother's choice of saving his life.

He's known for a long time the way that Ed thought about the situation. How he hated himself for him. How he hated the fact that Al couldn't breathe, couldn't feel, couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, couldn't dream… He knows that Ed hates himself for what he did to his younger brother, and nothing but fixing it would ever wipe away that hate.

He did fix, and sometimes Al isn't quite so sure that the hate _has_ been wiped away.

Al would never lie. His experience in that body was one of the worst of his life. There were so many things he had lost. The soft touch of someone loving. The taste of food. Dreams. The smell of roses or even bitter city air. He realized bitterly that he had never really known what it felt like to have Colonel Hughes hug him. He even missed the feeling of pain, the pain that let you knew you were still human.

Despite the horrors, and disadvantage, Al never regretted his brother's choice. He would trade all of those thing, forever really, to be able to continue living. He could not smell or taste. But he could see and hear. He could not feel warmth or cold or touch, but he could feel love and friendship. The things he had done and the people he had met on his journey to get it back were precious to him. And the appreciation he gained from having those absent for so long was worth his time without it.

Ed's actions that day had saved Al's life and he would never resent that.

That didn't get rid of the nightmares.

There were plenty of them. It seemed that those years of things that would make lesser men give up would never leave him. He used to stay up at night and watch while Ed tossed and turned, trying to hold back from audibly crying out, as he dealt with the horrors inside his own head. Their mother, human transmutation, Nina, homunculi, everything… inside his head, compacted, and infinitely worse than anything before.

Al had never had to deal with those until he got his body back. And even since he had had to deal with them, it seemed like they were determined to not let him ever escape them.

This time, it was an expanse of a white.

No more, no less, interrupted by a large slab of grey that extended upwards in front of him.

Al frowned at it. It looked familiar, had he seen it before? Yes, he determined that he had. It was terribly familiar so he must have. He looked closer. Oh, well wasn't that interesting? It seemed like the slab was covered with alchemic knowledge. It even had alkahestry on it! And… no… He took a closer look. That was his circle! His Mei Flower! Al grinned, happy that his array had been put on such an obviously important door. He didn't know how he knew it was a door, but that thought just seemed right.

He reached out to touch his array, and found the door opening. He was alarmed, but stood back to see what would happen. They opened slowly, and he waited for them to finish… and then he ran.

There were arms reaching for him! They were long and black and they felt _wrong_, he had to try and get away, but the grabbed onto him and dragged him backwards. He was shouting, screaming, yelling for them to let him go, but they wouldn't! He tried to fight against them, scrabble at the floor, find something to grab onto, but there was nothing but white. Soon they were pulling him past the grey doors and he tried to get free, grab onto and edge, but the door swung shut.

He was lost in the darkness.

The darkness was complete. There was no light whatsoever. He couldn't tell when or where it began or ended or what was going on. There was nothing… except…

A tapping, ringing noise.

Over and over and over again.

Tap, ring, tap, ring, tap, ring. There was a pause and then it started again.

And then there was flames. And explosion!

A man in a white suit, and a black pony tail. Al turns, knowing that this is horrible, this wasn't supposed to happen this is _bad_— Then he is fighting. Fighting for his life, fighting to survive and keep the people he loves safe. He won't let anyone else die. He will fight.

Then he freezes when he feels, doesn't feels, but still somehow knows that he is about to die, he feels the tendril against his blood seal, his brother's blood, and he had to try and get away, it'll kill him—

It breaks through.

Al woke up with a giant gasp.

Where was he? He blinked a few times, trying to get his heart to stop pounding. His heart was pounding. He had his body. It was still there. He was breathing. He could feel slight pressure on his arm. He turned and found Mei's face pressed into it. She was sleeping, a slight frown on her face as if she was contemplating a problem in her sleep.

He continued to fight to get his heart and breathing under control, trying to get shake his mind free of his nightmare. He focused on his breathing, Mei's, some scrap of poetry he had been trying to translate into Amestrian (difficult because of the way the Xingese liked to describe simple things like an ocean or jade), the dark wood of the ceiling, the curl of Mei's hair across their bed and her body. He couldn't. Certainly not enough to fall back asleep.

So, Al, as gently as he could, detached his wife from him, and got up out of bed. He gave her another look to make sure she was still sleeping, before padding across the wood floors with his bare feet, running a hand through his hair and down his face. He didn't feel like going to the library and trying to focus on any research and he simply didn't feel like tea, or even hot chocolate would be able to do the trick of calming him down this time.

So he went the only other place he could think of.

* * *

She fought against the chains, the tethers, but they simply wouldn't budge.

"No! Stop it!" she screamed. She had to get to them, save them! They couldn't do this! That was her daughter! She didn't know how she knew that that was her child, but she knew! They couldn't do that to her, didn't they see that she was screaming? She was a human being, so what if she was half Amestrian? "GIVE HER BACK!"

But they didn't seem to even hear her. They couldn't even see her! Her child was screaming for her! "AL! AL! HELP HER!" Where was her husband? Where was he to help, it was his child as well!

"Mei, Al's gone." Ling's voice was soft. She turned, suddenly free of her chains, but unable to move.

"What?"

"He's been gone for years, Mei. Alchemic rebound, you know that, Mei."

"But… our child!" she protested, turning to where her daughter was screaming her name, being taken away, tortured… and saw nothing.

"Mei, you never had any children. He died six months into your marriage. It was a terribly tragedy, both Xing and Amestris mourned him. You've been convinced he's still alive all this time, Mei, it's time to let go. He's dead."

"No… No… No he's not. He can't be! We just went to bed together! He was working on improving his Mei Flower Array!"

"Mei… that was the project he started before he died. You finished it for him. Please Mei, don't do this to me anymore. It hurts to see you liked this!"

"He's not dead!" she screamed at him. He couldn't be!

"Mei…"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" She covered her ears with her hands and looked away from him.

"Mei. Stop this foolishness." His voice had changed. She removed her hands and looked up. It wasn't Ling anymore, it was her grandfather. He was disappointed in her. She hadn't become Empress, it was her fault, she hadn't been able to get the Philosopher's stone, she had failed her entire clan! She was a disgrace to the name of Chang. "You have already failed me enough, do not deepen your shame."

"What else would you expect?" another man remarked, coming into view. Mei recognized him even though she had never really met him. He had her ears, the same turn up of their nose, but his eyes were small and harsh, his features much the same.

"She is after all, just the Chang princess. Not of much worth at all, perhaps she could marry one of my nobles and have some children. Not good for much else. Why, the idea of her becoming Empress is laughable!"

"No… I could," she protested weakly. She could have been Empress! Ling had simply gotten the Philosopher's Stone, that was all. And he counted on her for advice and support! He would not have been able to do as much as he had without her!

"Bah. She is weak. Not even all that pretty."

"Not really."

That was a voice she knew very well. Mei turned, feeling only eleven years old again. Al stood at her sire's shoulder, looking down at her like she was something disgusting he had found at the bottom of his shoe.

"Don't know what I ever saw in her really. Biggest mistake I've ever made."

"No… No… No, AL!" He looked at her, couldn't he see she was begging, she loved him!

"See? Pathetic."

Mei woke up.

Her wide open eyes had nothing to take in but darkness. It was almost completely dark in her room, their room. Hers and Al's. They were married. Happily. He didn't hate her. She didn't need to be Empress, she had everything she needed. Her clan was still prospering. Xing was doing fine. She had done great things for her country.

Mei reached over to try and touch Al, make sure he really was there, and found the space next to her empty. He wasn't there.

She frowned and sat up, looking around their room. No, he wasn't anywhere in there.

Where could he be? He wasn't supposed to be anywhere, just home sweet home with her.

She got up, grabbing a quick wrap to wrap around her as she stumbled out of their room, trying to keep the words of the nightmare out of her head. She headed for the kitchen, convinced that that was where he would be if he had the same problem she did. Even if he wasn't there she planned on making herself something hot to drink.

He wasn't in the kitchen, and she frowned at that, but went about making herself a cup of hot chocolate. Al, or rather, Winry through Al, had introduced her to the stuff and she quite enjoyed it now. It was very soothing and very tasty.

As she was taking cautious sips, however, she caught sight of something through the glass panel of the door between the kitchen and the courtyard that made her pause and smile fondly.

She pushed open the door.

"Al?"

He turned to look at her. "Mei?"

"Can I join you?"

He nodded, and scooted over on the bench, allowing her enough room to cuddle against his side.

They sat there in silence in a while, neither want to admit the reason they sought solstice, but both of them knowing why the other was there.

Eventually, the sun rose, and they continued to sit there, leaning on each other. It wasn't until the sun itself peaked over their wall that they actually got up and began their day.

* * *

**Remember, AlMei week is NOT this week, please tell me what day you think I should update on, Fullmetal Alchemist Wiki is awesome, please review, and AlMei is one of the best fluffiest pairings of all time.**


	20. Father's Day

**So… I don't really know what happened with this one. I started out writing knowing I wanted to do something for Father's Day and ended up with 900 words of best case father scenario and no idea what to do with it… So this happened. It's really unconventional, and we had an unconventional chapter last week, but it is Father's Day and Al's not a father yet so… Stay tuned at the end because there are more announcements.**

* * *

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" the little boy cried as he ran through the grass to the house. "Look at what Ed and I made!"

The blond man turned around and grinned widely at his two sons running at him. "What is this?" The boy proudly held up the small metal figure that resembled some sort of four legged animal, and his brother did likewise. "You made this yourself? With alchemy?"

"Uh-huh!" Ed said proudly.

"Trisha," Hohenheim called behind him, and the boy's mother soon appeared, wiping her hands on her apron. "Come look at what our boys did!"

"What is this?" she asked, getting down on her knees so she was at their eye level. "Why! Ed, it's lovely! And Al, this is amazing! You two made these with alchemy?"

"Yup!"

"That's incredible boys!" she proclaimed happily, hugging both of them. "I'm so proud of the way you two are progressing with this! Though with your father, it isn't that surprising."

Hohenheim lifted his hands, as if to surrender. "I haven't been teaching them a thing. They've learned all of this on their own, sneaking into my library."

Ed grinned, despite the reprimand and Al smiled too. "Mine's not as good as Ed's…"

"No, Al, it's amazing! They both are! I'm so proud of my two little alchemists." She smiled at them and stood up. "Why don't you go show them to Winry?" The boys grinned and took off down the road together. She wasn't expecting the arm around her waist or the whispered words in her ear of "How about your big alchemist?"

Ed and Al only stopped once along the road to turn back and wave at their parents, and only got the sight of them kissing.

Both boys were thoroughly grossed out.

* * *

"Hi Dad…" Al paused, not quite sure what to say. "Well… I finally did it, huh? Married." He took a deep breath and smiled. "Yup. You heard me. I'm married. My new name is Alphonse Chang. Guess I'm continuing the tradition of not passing on my last name, huh? Though I don't know. Officially, our kids are probably going to be Changs. Mei's of the higher status so in Xing they'd have her last name. Unless we raise them in Amestris, then they'll probably be Elrics. I guess they'll probably just end up picking which name they have. Maybe they'll pick it depending on what names we give them. Mei and I haven't talked about any future baby names yet, so I don't know what she has in mind, but I was thinking an even split between Xingese and Amestrian names would be good. The Xingese named ones can have Elric and the Amestrian named can have Chang, huh? Switch it up so they have both…"

There was a lag and he just stood their awkwardly. "I don't think you ever talked to her. I know you met her, because you were there on the Promised Day… Mei was the girl that practically attacked me when I got my body back? Black braid, pink outfit… I never would have guessed then that I would end up married to her, but… I wouldn't want to be anything else. She's amazing, Dad. You would like her too, Mom, if you're listening in."

He preferred to ignore the part of him that was telling him he was crazy for talking to tombstones like they were actually people listening to him.

"I love her… We're going to spend the rest of our lives together. It's just… such an amazing thought, it makes me want to dance or something. We're going to have a family together…" Al paused and repeated what he had just said one more time. "We're going to have a family together. I'm going to be a father. I don't know when, but… I'm going to be a father. The father of Mei's kids. And she'll be the mother of mine." The was a soft smile on his face.

"I'm going to do the best I can, Dad. I never hated you like Ed did, but I was resentful. I wondered why you weren't around. Was it us? Did we bother you? Did you run away because you hated us? I know now that it was because you had to leave. You found out about what Father was doing and you had to stop it. You were only trying to save us and everyone else here. And I get why you told Mom not to tell us… I wish I could be that noble if I had to be, but… I don't want to have to. I want to be able to be a real Father to my kids. To be there. Frame their artwork. Teach them ball, or alchemy, whichever they're more interested in. Considering who their parents are, it'll probably be alchemy… Don't think that I'm trying to make you feel bad, Dad, I'm not. You did what you had to do… and I want to be able to do the same. I just hope that what I have to do allows me to do this for my kids… to give them something I never really had."

* * *

The black haired child bounced up and down eagerly, chanting the same thing over and over again. Her mother had been smiling at first, but after two non-stop hours of the chanting, it lost its charm. "Mei, my darling, I know you are excited to finally be getting your month with Daddy, but I'm sure he would be ever so proud of you if he saw you sitting all nice and still like a good girl."

Mei looked like this was indeed the last thing she wanted to be doing, but she did quiet her wriggling, and sat still, staring at her hands. Finally: "Mommy, am I really going to get to spend a whole month with Daddy?"

"Yes," Xia Chang replied exasperated. "A whole month with Daddy. But he will be very busy, sweetheart, so don't expect him to be able to spend every waking moment with you, all right? He will do his best to spend time with you, but he is very busy. And do try not to ruin your dress. The servants worked very hard to make it pretty." The little girl grinned and once again held as still as she possibly could.

Finally the carriage pulled to a stop. "You have to get out after me, alright, Mei-mei?" Mei's nose wrinkled. Her mother hadn't called her Mei-mei in _forever_.

"Yes, Mother."

"Good." The Emperor's wife waited for the door to be opened for her, before climbing out with all the dignity she could muster. When she was finally in the light, she turned around to watch her daughter climb out… and saw nothing. "Mei? Mei?" Then she looked down.

Mei was standing dutifully at her mother's heels. Eventually she just shook her head and smiled. "Go ahead, Mei."

The girl didn't waste any time racing down the yard of the palace into the arms of the severe looking man in front of the palace. As soon as he caught sight of the little girl, however, his sharp face softened with a smile.

"Daddy!" She threw herself around his waist, which prompted a mix of slight gasps and some chuckles from the present members of the court.

"Hello, Mei." Xia, now coming up behind her daughter, bowed deeply to the Emperor and her husband.

"Your Majesty, my apologies for her behavior. She was ever so excited to see you."

"It is long forgiven, my dear Xia." My dear Xia. She was indeed lucky to be addressed as such. 'My dear' was a title usually reserved for one or two of the Emperor's favorite wives, which Xia just so happened to be a part of. It had been decades since any Chang had found as much favor with the Emperor as she had, which had been a blessing on their clan.

"Am I really going to be spending the _whole _month with you, Daddy?" Mei asked, looking up from his waist with large dark eyes. He chuckled.

"Yes indeed, my flower." He snapped his fingers and a servant hurried over. "Take her to the baths so that she can freshen up. I will walk with Xia for a while, and then Mei and I will have lunch together, just the two of us." The Chang heiress smiled widely at her father before grabbing onto the servants hand and skipping down the hallway. Meanwhile, the Emperor took Xia's hand and began an easy stroll down the steps to the gardens.

* * *

It was where all the great Emperors of Xing were buried. Very few were allowed access to this place, almost all of them had to be directly related to the Emperor themselves. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, enough for Mei, she was. In this valley, each Emperor of Xing had been laid to rest in their own tombs, from her own father, Feng Xing, all the way back to Xing, himself. There were one or two exceptions. Maui Dong was only Emperor for a seven unhappy months and was deprived of the honor to be buried with his Great Ancestors, instead being buried somewhere back in the Dong providence. Most people blamed his short rule on him choosing an inauspicious date for his coronation.

It was where Ling would be laid to rest at the end of his years. But that was not why Mei was here. Today, she was here for the most recently sealed tomb.

Modern Xingese did not put a great deal of emphasis on the old traditions for peasant deaths. Before, the family might go bankrupt trying to pay for a funeral and burial fit enough to provide their loved one a spot in the afterlife. Most of those superstitions had died through the years, and most Xingese peasants were buried in a graveyard with a few words, perhaps their favorite hair brush, and some tears.

The Emperors were still afforded all of the grandeur traditions of the past. Each one had their own tomb filled with more valuables that many of the peasantry had ever seen in their whole lives put together.

She bowed her head when she finally reached the front of her father's tomb.

"Oh, Honored Father, I ask for thy blessing and thy good tidings upon me." A customary greeting. Then she straightened. "I should have asked for your blessing before I continued through with my marriage to Alphonse, but we wanted to get it done as quickly as we could make it happen. Ling provided his, and as his successor, his blessing meant almost as much. I do wish I could have received my Sire's Blessing on my marriage as well, though. I beg apologizes from His Majesty for my slight."

She paused, trying to come up with some else to say. She had come all the way here, she felt like there was something else she should say.

"Al is going to be a better father than you ever were."

An insult. A terrible, terrible insult. If she had said it to his face, she would be punished quite severely. There was no around though.

"I met you once, and I was a baby. You stayed for maybe ten minutes? I barely even knew my own mother because she was always off at the palace trying to get into your favor. She had to find your favor because it was the only way that she would be able to help our clan or perhaps increase your favor for me. I wouldn't be surprised in the least, in fact I believe, that none of the presents I ever got from you were even ever yours. You probably didn't even know what was sent to me, and if you didn't you probably didn't know why. All of us, all 43 of us, hate you.

"I'm not going to let _you_ happen to my family. I will be a mother to them, and Al will be a father to them. We will be a family. And when my children visit my grave… they'll tell me how they want to raise their children just like I did."

* * *

He kissed her gently and Mei smiled. Al wrapped his arms around her and she happily rested her head against his chest, right under his head, which he rested on top of hers.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"I love our children."

"Al," Mei said, smiling and looking up at him. "We don't have any children."

"I know. But we will, right?"

"Yes."

"I love them already. Do you think they'll love me too?"

"How could anyone not?" she answered, kissing him lighting and resting her head underneath his again.

* * *

**So I was trying to figure out what my schedule for the summer was going to be and I kinda got carried away and ended up planning out a vague outline for the rest of my entire AlMei arch. A Source of Hope is going to go on for a full 50 chapters like GTFS did and it's probably going to go all the way till they have all their kids. And then AFTER that, there's going to be a (hopefully) shorter story that's going to be like 15-20 chapters and be their kids and growing old together. So it's going to be going on for another year!**

**Shoot me.**

**Haha… I mean… um.. *cough* YAY! ALMEI WHOOO! THREE YEARS OF MY LIFE!**

***cough***

**So, I did a really big rant on DA about following canon, and in it I mentioned my tendency to obsess over head canons, quote: "When I do head canons, they're legit, man. I create a world. I do timelines. I do maps. I do Punnet Square crosses. I have a list of all 50 Providences/Clans of Xing. I could write "A History of Xing" if I wanted to (actually that'd be a fun side project...). I created an entire governmental system for them. I HAVE SCHEMATICS OF THE THRONE ROOM." And I've had more than one person expressed the desire to actually have me write A History of Xing. This would be a lot of fun for me, but it would also be a lot of work because I would have to do a lot of research on China. So if I were to do it, I would like to know that there would actually be people who would appreciate it/like to see it/use it.**


	21. Joys of a Public Face

**Whoooooo! managed to get the chapter up! It's super late, but it's summer! Whooo! Girls Camp for most of the week and didn't start this till later cause I went to extra church to hear a missionary farewell and homecoming in the same meeting. Pretty cool.**

**For any and all of my readers in New Zealand, if a Mormon missionary named Elder Wilson knocks on your door DO NOT CLOSE IT IN HIS FACE. In fact, you can even tell him that you know someone online who knows him. Same goes for anyone in Georgia who meets a Sister McFarlane. Or in Milwaukee/Australia who meets a Sister Brown. I know that last one sounds weird, but she's in Wisconsin until her visa clears.**

**If I find out you guys slammed the door in the faces of any of these guys, I will... do something awful. Just don't slam the door in the faces of any of these three Mormon missionaries. Please. Well. Any of them, really. I'll be sad and disappointed in you.**

* * *

"…Al!"

Al looked up from the scroll he was looking over. Mei had just found it hidden in the back of some cubby hole in the Imperial library when she was looking for something on the origins of alkahestry. In a few words, a smaller piece of an ancient record on the activities of public figures. When he said it was as old as his father, he wasn't exaggerating. This particular piece was documenting his father's activities in Xing.

Al felt uncomfortable at how close he was to having Xingese half siblings twelve times removed. Apparently the Emperors were very fond of offering the Western Sage their daughters as wives.

Perhaps it would be better not to mention it to Ed.

"What is it?"

"Come here!"

So he set the scroll aside and made his way up from his chair, stretching the kinks out of his back as he went, and from the library to the front door where he had heard his wife's voice come from. It wasn't a terribly long trip, but he still saw her peaking her head down the hallway when he turned the corner, trying to find him.

"Who is it?" he asked, automatically assuming that there was someone there that wanted to see him. He had no clue who it could be. There was no one visiting as far as he knew. Perhaps someone needed him somewhere? He couldn't think of anything someone would need from him that someone else couldn't do. Well, at least not something they would need him for last minute.

"Come see for yourself."

It was an Amestrian standing in the doorway, which was a bit of a surprise. It had been so long since Al had seen any Amestrian besides in the mirror that he seemed odd looking. He certainly didn't recognize the man. Typical blond and blue eyes. Fairly tall, but not very broad.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Ambassador Elric, my name is Jesse Wilson, and I'm a reporter for the Central Times."

"… oh. Hi."

"May I come in? The Princess was reluctant to allow me to do so until you had arrived."

"Why are you here?" The man blinked as if it was obvious.

"I'm here to interview you, Ambassador."

"… Why?"

The man looked at him as if he was stupid. Al certainly felt like it when he didn't answer for a few good seconds, and upon answering, answered slowly as if he was talking to a child.

"It's not fair for the Xingese to hog you. You are Amestrian and you grew up in our country. You're a public figure there. Just because you married a Xingese Princess doesn't mean your country's stopped caring about you and your relationship with her. In fact, with your recent public exposure, curiosity about you and your brother has sky rocketed. He has been… rather unreceptive to such curiosity. We were hoping that you would be more accepting of our questions."

He glanced at Mei cautiously. She looked slightly worried, but shrugged.

"Come in, I guess."

They led Jesse into their parlor, and he chose to sit down in one of the more Amestrian styled chairs in the room, while Al and Mei chose to sit on the couch together. She slipped her hand into his and smiled at him.

Jesse pulled out a notepad and a pencil and stared expectantly at them. "So, Ambassador, you were born in the small town of Resembool, correct?"

"Yes. August 17 1900."

"And your mother raised you until her death, at which point your sister in law's grandmother became your legal guardian."

"Yes. Winry's parents were close friends with my mother."

"And what about your father?"

"My father?"

"There are no records whatsoever of Trisha Elric ever marrying. But you and the Fullmetal Alchemist are full brothers, correct?"

"Ex-Fullmetal Alchemist," Al corrected quickly. Ed hated being called that. "And yes we are. Our parents never got their marriage officiated with the State, but they did perform a tradition Resembool wedding. Sheep and all."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Sheep?"

Al snorted softly. "Sheep. A traditional Resembool wedding is always done in the spring and involves the couple sheering a sheep together and then their first child's blanket will be made of the wool. I think Mom only did it to embarrass Dad. I don't even think she made Ed the blanket. I did not follow said tradition for obvious reasons. I didn't think it would be quite appropriate to have an Ambassador and a Princess sheering a sheep in the middle of the Xingese palace… It might have not sent the right image. Though it definitely would have shown willingness from the Xingese to mingle with Amestrian traditions. Though that's a bit of a weird one even for most Amestrians."

"I see… And what do you know about him? He must have left early on since all records say you were raised by your mother alone."

Al looked down at his hand entwined with Mei's, that tightened around his. "My father left us when I was only two or so years old. He was a powerful alchemist and managed to discover the corruption in the government earlier than everyone else. He tried to go out and solve the problem, but had to leave us behind so that no harm would come to us. I didn't see him again until I was 14 and he died shortly after the coup."

"And how did this impact you in your later life?" The reporter didn't even look up from his notepad, scribbling furiously.

"Well, I'm determined to never leave my family like that if I can avoid it."

"And if he ever did, I'd have words to say to him, you can count on that," Mei inserted in an angry tone. Al laughed and squeezed her hand back. This time Jesse did look up, glancing up quickly at their intertwined hands, and then looking up again quickly as if he had missed something. He then stared so intently at them that Al felt almost uncomfortable and looked away.

"… I see… So you used to be quite well known for wearing a large suit of armor, back before you brother quit being the Fullmetal Alchemist. Why was that exactly?"

"The armor was both protection and part of my alchemy training," Al answered, easily slipping into oft repeated lies. "Our teacher was quite extreme..."

* * *

"And I have just a few more questions for you, Ambassador. You're recent marriage to Princess Chang, it is still Chang right?"

"When I'm in Xing, yes, my name is still Mei Chang," Mei answered for her husband. "According to the laws of Xing, Al's name is now Alphonse Chang, rather than me taking his name. If we ever move to Amestris, however, we plan on both going by his name."

"Very well, your recent marriage to Princess Chang has caused quite a stir in the way we view the Xingese and interracial marriages. You're both very important figures in your countries. How has your marriage been going so far and would you suggest it to anyone else? Would you be supportive of, for example, a relationship between an Amestrian and an Ishvalan?"

"Our marriage has been great so far. Neither Mei nor I come from a background were giving up is acceptable, so so far we've managed to work through most of our problems. I find it really works to just try and think her weird customs are cute instead of annoying. It usually works."

"And I just remind myself that it's the weird ways that I found adorable when we were falling in love. It helps that Al's a complete gentleman and when he's being an idiot, he really is just being an idiot and can't help it."

Al grinned sheepishly. "I don't know if I would suggest it to someone else as everyone should try to have an interracial relationship, but it's worked for us. As for Amestrian and Ishvalan relations… I knew a man who had an Ishvalan grandfather and he was one of the best soldier's I've known, and I've known quite a few. I don't think it makes much of any difference. If you really love each other and you're willing to work through the cultural differences, I don't see why there's any problem with it."

"What about the children? How are you two planning on raising your children when they'll be so obviously caught between cultures?"

Al and Mei shared a glance. It was a topic they had discussed before, but not in great length. It was a serious issue.

"We're going to do our best to give them the best both cultures have to offer, I think. In the end it will really come down to them. We'll give them the options and they can choose what they'd like to do with the unique opportunity they'll be given," he answered eventually.

Jesse scribbled a few more notes on his pad and then snapped it closed and tied it up quickly. "Thank you very much Ambassador Elric. I won't be taking away your time any longer."

Al stood and shook the man's hand. It felt good to be shaking hands with someone again. It wasn't the biggest custom among the Xingese, though it was starting to make its way into common practice.

"Of course. Thank you for coming."

"Any time, Ambassador. I'm sure I'd be able to come up with more questions."

Al smiled. "Are you sure, I could have sworn you'd ask everything!"

The reported laughed. "A good reporter is never out of questions. He just stops so the interviewee doesn't want to rip his head off." There was some more laughing and the man left with some more "thank you"s and farewells.

* * *

Three weeks later, after the article was published, more reporters showed up at their door.

And more after them.

Some wanted to speak to Al about his adventures with Ed, some wanted to know about what it was like for an Amestrian living in Xing, being married to a Xingese woman, a few wanted to interview him about alchemy. Xingese reporters also came, usually to talk more to Mei than Al, but they asked him a fair amount of questions as well. More than anything, the reporters all wanted to know about Mei and Al and their lives together, and how they had gotten together, how they had fallen in love, how their relationship had progressed…

Al was quite ready to just throw them all out the door.

But he answered the questions and did his best to smile when they wanted pictures. Mei was much more patient with it, she had become used to it and only expressed her frustrations when they were all gone and she would rant to him as they got into bed.

Then they crossed a line.

He had been dozing off on the couch when Mei came home from a trip to get some groceries with a newspaper in her hand.

"I'm pregnant."

Al thought his heart stopped. "What?"

"I'm pregnant." He sat bolt upright and started choking.

"You- You are?"

"According to that I am." She threw the newspaper down on small table in front of their couch. "I really must thank them for telling me such. So kind of them."

He was frowning now as he picked up the slightly crinkled newspaper. Sure enough, the large title read in Xingese characters that the Chang Princess had a secret she wasn't telling and after the first few paragraphs it said she was pregnant.

"I'm not pregnant," she said, crossing her arms and glaring at the paper. "If I was, I wouldn't care if they announced it. But I do have a very big problem with them telling such an obvious lie!"

"Well, it's not obvious," Al said, trying to pacify her at the same time he was trying to swallow his disappointment. "We have been married for over half a year. It's pretty normal for Xingese women to get pregnant pretty fast, right?"

"Yes," she grumbled. "And some people might assume that the reason we haven't announced that I am is because we're keeping it a secret. But they shouldn't be allowed to say something like that without us confirming it first!"

"We'll just have to correct the mistake," he said, skimming the rest of the article quickly. They had most of the rest of their information correct, it was just the fact that the article was straight out lying that was wrong with it.

Mei's arms were still crossed and she didn't look happy. In fact, she looked more annoyed. "Stop trying to make me feel better about this."

He smiled and got up to wrap her in his arms. Despite the fact that she was trying to remain mad, she still melted into his embrace.

"You know, I wouldn't mind it if you _were_ pregnant. In fact, I would actually be quite ecstatic."

"I know Al. And I wouldn't hide something like that from you. I certainly wouldn't tell a newspaper article before you."

"So who would you tell before me?" he asked slyly. She pulled away from his embrace slightly and wrinkled her nose at him.

"Xiao Mei."

He grinned. "Fair enough. What did you pick up while you were out other than the article? I was thinking noodles with that one sauce from the East we both liked for lunch."

* * *

**Just reminding ya'll.**

**AlMei week.**

**July 7-13. PARTICIPATE.**


	22. Life Being Life

**So, um... I have no idea what happened with this chapter. In all honesty. It just kinda... happened. Yeah... I started off witht eh beginning and had no idea what to do for the rest of it so I did this and then I thought oh hey that'd be cool, and then I added that and... it became this... I guess it's an example of what I imagine their life to be like after marriage?**

**I owe a big thanks to AnEquivalentExchange who used to be RuinsofXerses for this chapter. She inspired the idea of food. **

**OH. OH MY GOODNESS I ALMOST FORGOT. arl-phonse did another wonderful picture of Chapter 1 of this story, when Al and Mei kiss right after Al gets off the train. It's adorable :D The link is on my profile and I'm too lazy to try to get around 's crazy restrictions in the author note. GO LOOK AT IT! And she called this story and GTFS "the AlMei Bible"**

**She's trying to tickle my ego.**

**It worked.**

* * *

"Auntie Mei, Uncle Al, it's my broder!"

Mei smiled at the excited two year old. "You have a new little brother, Jun-li?"

"Yes!" he proclaimed excitedly.

Al smiled and stopped to talk to the toddler while Mei moved passed him to talk to the Royal couple and look at their new baby. Ling was holding him and gently laughing. Lan Fan looked amazing for having given birth only two days ago, dressed more simply than she had in probably months. It was probably the closest she had come to being able to wear her guard uniform since she became Empress.

"Hey, Mei," he greeted her, grinning. "Ready to meet him?"

"Yes!" she said, happily accepting the bundle that Ling handed her. Whereas Jun-li had taken very much after his father in appearance, it seemed like little Fu would take more after his mother. His face was very round and chubby, taken up mostly by a pair of large dark brown eyes. Jun-li had been born with some black fuzz already on his head, but Fu was almost completely bald. He had a clam expression on his face as if he was ready to command subjects.

"He's precious."

"Of course he's precious, he's the son of the Emperor."

Mei stuck her tongue out at her brother, but he was just grinning widely.

"Mommy, mommy!" Jun-li cried, running on his short legs towards his mother. Lan Fan smiled wearily and lifted him onto her lap.

"Yes, Jun-li?" He just grinned at her toothily and pointed at Mei.

"Fu!"

She smiled again, this time a little less weary and a little more genuine. "Yes, that's your little brother Fu." Jun-li grinned.

Mei turned when she felt Al's hand on her shoulder. "Can I hold him?"

She nodded and handed the baby over. He smiled at the infant and wiggled a finger in his face. Fu watched it carefully, but didn't make any move or nose in response, almost as if he was insulted this mere Ambassador was trying to patronize him.

"It's a good thing you have so many servants to watch over these two. If you only had one or two, they would never be able to keep track of Jun-li and make sure Fu didn't get into any trouble."

"Jun-li loves trying to sneak away into the shadows," Lan Fan said, smiling a little. "It annoys the servants to no end. Almost as much as it used to when his father would do it."

Ling was conveniently looking in the other direction.

* * *

"So am I cooking dinner or are you?" Mei asked four hours later, as she put her scroll aside. Al, who was likewise bent over his own scroll just mumbled something under his breath that Mei didn't hear. "What was that Al?"

"The fluctuations in qi were often misinterpreted as signs of extended longevity," he said louder, but still absentmindedly. Mei blinked.

"Al, I asked you who was going to be cooking dinner."

"Huh?" he said, looking up for the first time. "What?"

"Dinner. Who's making it."

"Oh. OH. That's what you were asking," he said sheepishly. "I will if you want, I'm almost done with this."

"No," she said rolling her eyes at him. "I will, you can go ahead and finish. I'll be in the kitchen when you're done."

"Are you sure—"

"It's fine, Al." She kissed him quickly. "Thanks for offering." She straightened, intending to head for the kitchens, when Al grabbed her arm and spun her around. She was going to ask him what he was doing, she had to go and cook their dinner, when she really couldn't talk anymore. Al pulled her into him with an arm around her waist while the other hand curled itself in her hair. He let her go a few seconds later with a twinkle in his gold eyes.

"Love you, Mei."

She, slightly pink, straightened for reals this time, and smiled. "Love you Alphonse." He winked quickly and picked up the scroll again.

Still colored, Mei made her way to the kitchen. She personally thought that Ling had made sure to get them a house where the kitchen was very close to the library, probably because he knew that that was going to be the room they would be in the most and would need quick food. It was a very well equipped kitchen, with appliances, materials, and recipes. Al and Mei had had much fun together trying out the different recipes that Ling had given them. There were a handful of the Emperor's favorites from all the different clans, Amestris, and of the Eastern recipes that Al and Mei had brought to Xing. Mei thought it was questionable that Ling had given them all his favorite recipes, but upon actually questioning him, he answered that he wanted them to be prepared if he ever came over for dinner.

Mei sort of doubted that it would ever actually happen like that, but there was room in the back of the book to add their own.

The first thing Al had done was called Winry and gotten the apple pie recipe.

They had tried to recreate the masterpiece together four times to date.

For both being such great genii with mixing materials and bending them to their will, understanding how they combined and worked together… well…

"_How hard is it to make a single pie!"_

"_We've made four pies, Alphonse. The trick isn't making the pie, it's making the good pie."_

"_You know what I meant. Why does this crust not want to stay in one piece! It keeps ripping!"_

"_Did you add enough shortening?"_

"_I don't think shortening is the problem, is it? Wouldn't it be the water?"_

"_No, the shortening is what makes the flour stick together into the pastry, isn't it?" _

"_I guess that makes sense. And I mashed it up with that one tool that looked like it only needed to be sharpened to go in the Xingese guard's repertoire of weaponry until it was crumbly. Then you add the water as you need it until it all stick together. But it keeps ripping!"_

_Mei consulted the notes Al took while Winry lectured him in the proper way to make her masterpiece of a pie. "Did you rub the rolling pin with flour?"_

"… _why would I rub the rolling pin with flour?"_

"_I guess the dry flower stops the dough from sticking to the rolling pin and ripping. Is it tearing because it's sticking to the pin?"_

"_Sometimes. Sometimes it's just rolling out in the funny directions… were we supposed to make more of it than this?"_

"_I don't think so. Winry told us to make this much…"_

"… _do you think she purposefully forgot to tell us a certain ingredient so that we wouldn't be able to do it?"_

"… _I think she might have." _

The evening had ended with the two of them covered in flour and bits of apple pie filling, one half black pie (they didn't cover the filling quite right and it ended up boiling over in the stove), and much more respect for both Winry and Gracia.

Smiling fondly at the memory, Mei pulled out the book and flipped to the back to one of her favorite recipes. It was one she and Al had come up with together, mixing their two cultures. Apparently rice was great when baked in a pan with Amestrian vegetables and meat.

She was just waiting for the rice to finish soaking up the rest of the water in the pan when Al entered the kitchen and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"I finished," he announced. "Do you need any help in here?"

"Just waiting for the rice to finish. Already have the vegetables and meat cut up."

He nodded and let go of her, moving to examine everything she already had prepared. She herself turned to check the rice and proclaimed it to be close enough to done to stick in the dish with the rest of the ingredients. Upon turning around however, she had to stick her hands on her hips.

"Alphonse!"

"… yes, my wonderful dear wife whom I love very much?"

"Did you just snitch some meat out of the pan?"

"… no," he said smiling widely, like the little boy who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar (she had just learned that idiom a month or so ago when Winry used it about Ed), or in this case, the husband who got caught snitching food before it was ready.

She glared at him for a while before rolling her eyes.

"Help me mix them all together."

He obligingly did so, and soon they slipped the pan into the oven together until it the top looked brown and slightly crunchy.

"How long until it's ready to eat?"

"Fifteen, twenty minutes?"

He nodded, then yawned loudly and stretched. "I've been sitting in that chair for almost five hours straight. It feels good to stretch."

"Do you want to spar?" He blinked and then raised his eyebrows. She wasn't quite sure what made her say it, but as soon as she did, she automatically wanted to. It had been a while since they had sparred with each other, or anyone. She might have gotten out of practice, which was a dangerous proposition.

"Do we have enough time?"

"We'll have to cut it a little short, but it shouldn't be too bad. We've both been so caught up with our reading and research that we haven't gotten the chance to spar in a while."

Al shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

Ling had so kindly already installed a sparring mat in their courtyard, as it just so happened, the one right next to the kitchen. It was a large area and in a great position for them.

Mei bounced on the heels of her feet as she watched Al across the mat. They had been fighting long enough to know that Al usually liked to make the second move. He would normally wait until she made a move before trying to counter. Sometimes she would be able to wait it out until he finally became impatient and attacked first, but that had taken as much as half an hour in the past, and they only had fifteen minutes or so.

So she started the fight by jumping at his chest.

She shouldn't have started with such a classic move of hers. Whereas the first time she had ever used the move on him she had kicked him into a train, this time he was more than able to side step and took a sweep at her with his knee. She lost her balance trying to avoid making the blow hit and fell forward, twisting so that her back wouldn't be to him in the meantime. As quickly as she could, she flipped herself back onto her feet and landed lithely, only to quick have to duck a powerful punch.

They fought like that for ten minutes or so, Mei ducking and weaving and landing blows when she could. One of her usual best tools was people who tended to underestimate her, which was no use with Alphonse, but she also leaned heavily upon her speed and ability for quick heavy punches. She almost got a shot at one of his pressure points, but he twisted out of the way.

She could see the grin on Al's face as he fought her. There was something exhilarating about fighting like this.

Then they heard the timer they had set up ring. Time to be done. Mei turned towards the kitchen just as Al spun around on one leg, the other one flying at Mei with enough force to knock her half way across the courtyard. Mei saw the foot in her peripheral vision however, and proved too fast for him. She dropped to the ground and kicked his only leg out from under him. With the loss of his only support, the momentum carried him forward so that he was falling face first towards the mat they were practicing on. Unfortunately, the mat provided much less of the cushion that he would have like, and when he threw his arms out to stop the impact, he heard a sharp crack. Then he felt the pain flare all up his arm.

"Al!" Mei cried out, standing up and running to his side. She had not meant to do that!

He turned himself over and sat up, blinking back tears of pain as he cradled his wrist and muttered some choice words under his breath.

"Perhaps this wasn't the best idea after all."

"Did it break?" He tried to move it and winced.

"I think so." She was already drawing the circle and dropping the kunais into the ground. It might be damaging the mat a little, but oh well. It was very tricky to heal a broken bone with alkahestry. It was usually something only masters attempted. And while Mei was even now reluctant to call herself a master of the art, she had learned how to fuse a broken bone together long ago. The more severe the fracture, the harder it was to fix. A hairline fracture wasn't much of a big deal to deal with, though for those it was often better to have it treated by an actual doctor. When bones healed themselves, the fracture became reinforced as to never break again. Alkahestry used the calcified bone as material to close the fracture and naturally thinned the bone. A complete fracture was not much different, but it was often much more urgent and worth the risk of using alkahestry.

Mei was not intending on completely healing the bone however. It was possible to simply use Al's own qi to direct the body to begin healing the wrist itself. As long as they could get a cast or something to immobilize it quickly, it should heal in a week or two instead of taking longer.

She informed Al what she was doing and activated the array. He winced slightly and struggled to get up with the one hand, so Mei helped him stand.

They went to one of the doctors at the palace who, when informed of the situation, decided to trust Mei's judgment and alkahestry and simply wrapped the wrist up as tightly as he could. As they waited for the man to give them to thumbs up to go, Al was fingering the bandage and then his head shot up.

"What? Is something wrong?"

He frowned and looked back down. "No, it's just… our dinner's probably gone cold…"

* * *

**Great priorities Al XP**

**Oh, and guess what really really big announcement I didn't make in the beginning author's note that's really super important?**

**ALMEI WEEK. IT'S NEXT WEEK PEOPLE. JULY 7-13. THE PROMPTS CAN BE LOCATED ON CHAPTER 18 "Dance". PARTICIPATE! IT WILL BE AWESOME. ART, STORIES, JUST DOOOOOO IIITTTTT! I have something special planned for next week's chapter because of it.**

**I should probably try to figure out what I'm doing for the prompts... I actually have no idea for any of them. I have a bit of a hipster complex, as in I really don't like to do the ordinary thing when it comes to stuff like this. It makes it really hard to do school projects sometimes. Once we had to do this huge niche research project on any animal mentioned in the book we were reading for bio (Never Cry Wolf) and everyone chose a wolf or a whale or some large mammal that it's easy to do this type of research project on.**

**I chose the mosquito mentioned twice as he swatted them away annoyedly. **

**So I'm trying really hard to be clever with how I answer the prompts. Which has led me to have no ideas as of yet. But you know what that's okay! As long as I have ideas by the day they're "due"!**

**Participate.**

**And I'd love a review :D Yes, from you. You, sitting there. I want to hear from you. Plleeeaaassseee :D You can tickle my ego too!**


	23. Old and New Faces

**ALMEI WEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKK! If I could enlarge text on this thing I WOULD. ALMEI WEEK ALMEI WEEK ALMEI WEEK. YYYYYAAAAAAAAYYYYYY. And I actually had this chapter planned for today before it was rescheduled to this week, which i think is a cool little coincidence. **

* * *

"… you did say he knew we were coming, right?"

Mei stared at the door, contemplating knowing again. "I thought he did know. I sent him a letter. He doesn't like getting calls much. He should have greeted us at the gate."

"… is he anything like Teacher in that he's going to slam the door open and begin to attack us?"

"… he might."

Al instinctually flinched away from the door slightly. Then Mei closed her eyes and focused, searching for the source of _qi _she used to be so familiar with. Finally her eyes opened.

"He's masking his qi."

"He's masking his qi? You can do that?"

"Only an expert. Someone who has dedicated their lives to the flow of qi can hide their signature from the world. It takes years of study and practice to be able to become proficient and it is impossible to be perfect. There is no way to hide your qi without cutting yourself of from the flow completely, which you can only accomplish by dying. And even then your qi is reused for other life forms. Like I said. Only a Master could do it. Or in other words…" She turned around sharply and ducked as the kunais came flying at her head.

"Master Hishu."

"Girl." Mei smiled thinly. Sometimes she thought her Master forgot that she had a name. Or maybe he was so old he honestly couldn't remember it.

"Hello Master. Did you not get the letter I sent, telling you that we were coming?"

"I got it."

"Then why did you not—"

"Your instincts are getting slow. It took you far too long to realize I was masking my qi. Are you going to come in or not?"

Mei cast Al a longsuffering look, that he just smiled at and then followed her following her Master inside. He led them to a small parlor room with a few short chairs and a table with a few items on it. Some paper and pencils, some knives, and old teacup… He grumbled and moved around preparing some more cups for them at one of the counters behind the chairs.

"I supposed you want to stay here for a few days too, don't you? Get familiar with the country side, look into town, read some of my books, you said."

"Yes Master," Mei responded. He huffed and gave both of them their cups. "I hope you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind," he said in a voice that sounded like he minded very much. "You can have the apprentice's room, there's no one there right now. You know where that is, Girl."

"I'll go get the luggage." Al smiled at Mei before neatly dropping the tea cup on the table and standing to go outside. Mei smiled back at him, and Al left the room. Mei wasn't quite sure what she was supposed to do in his absence, but her teacher solved that problem quite neatly for her.

"Does he know?" She jumped slightly and turned to look at him.

"What, Master?"

"Does he know?"

"… Know what, Master?" The look the alkahestrist gave his old pupil was very reminiscent of the days when Mei would kneel at his feet and he would give her the superior look that clearly stated that she was asking a stupid question. Mei winced slightly.

"I am one of the most highly praised alkahestrists in this country, girl, and for good reason. I've taught half of the previous heirs to the throne how to detect _qi_. I can tell the differences between the _qi_ of a rat and a mouse. I know when someone is grieving for a loved one or simply mourning without ever looking or talking with them. I can tell when one of my former pupils is pregnant!"

Mei swallowed and looked down at her hands. It was the first time someone other than herself had actually said it out loud. Only she and Xiao Mei had known previous to now. She had first had suspicions when she had failed to bleed at the appropriate time. She had dismissed it as stress or a hormonal surge or the like and been grateful, but when it had failed to make an appearance for the second month, she began to take a greater notice of the signs her body was trying to give her. Most women tended to throw up a great deal during the first trimester of pregnancy, did they not? She hadn't been, but she hadn't exactly been feeling top of the weather either. Simple things set her off.

Then she had felt it during meditation. It was small, hard to detect, but it was small knot of _qi_… inside her.

"He doesn't. I haven't told him yet and he hasn't noticed it himself yet."

Hishu snorted derisively. "I thought he was being hailed as an alakhestric genius. What sort of alkahestric genius can't even tell when his wife is pregnant? He should be so attuned to your _qi_ that he could tell if you had a head cold, let alone have another life growing within you."

"Alphonse is an alkahestric genius. He's just not used to using _qi_ all the time like you or I am. He wasn't trained to use it all the time like a sixth sense, he just uses it when he needs to." He snorted again.

"And whose fault is that?"

Mei sighed slightly and raised her own tea cup to her lips before answering. "Mine."

Hishu nodded. "Good. You still admit your fault. It's no good for anyone to be denying their fault. When were you going to tell him? Or were you going to wait for him to have to figure it our himself? Perhaps you should, see if it takes longer than when it starts showing."

"Master! Al is not an idiot!"

He raised an eyebrow and Mei felt her grip on her teacup tightened. He had always been like this. In truth, it had been one of the things that had really driven her to work hard and master the principles he gave her so that she could finally stand up under his constant criticism. He could never actually hit the Emperor's daughter, even as a Chang Princess that would be immediate death, but he had a way of speaking that made you feel like you were indeed being slamming into the ground with his rebuking.

"Prove it to me."

Mei froze slightly before finally nodding and grabbing a pad of paper and pen that had been set on the table when they came in. It took her a few seconds of thinking before the exact shapes and line occurred to her. Once she summoned the image in her head, though, she sketched it shape out and pushed it towards her master. It wasn't the best drawing she had ever done, but more than good enough to get the thought across.

"Al was the one who figured it out, with a little help from me." Hishu, still with a raised eyebrow, took the pad and looked at it more closely.

"This is alchemy, I cannot judge—"

"If you look at the second tier, do you recognize that?"

"… he was attempting to put the two together?" The alkahestrist began to take a more serious look at the paper. "This is attempting transmutation on a human, and not just healing a wound. Mei, this is a dangerous art, hundreds have tried and die to attempt something like this!"

"Do you know what it is?"

"… I cannot tell exactly. But I can tell that it puts the transmutation in the hands of the person it is being performed on."

Mei nodded, not missing the fact that for once in her life she got to teach her master something. "In Amestrian alchemy they have what is called a chimera. Chimeras are a violation of life, an alchemic mix of two animals. No sane alkahestrist would ever attempt such a pervasion of _qi_. But skill alchemists do it quite often in Amestris… sometimes even on humans. We both used to know some human chimeras who wanted nothing more than to return to their human forms so they could be with their families again. Al learned alkahestry from me and designed this to be able to separate them from the animal."

"Something like this would never work—"

"It did." He stopped and stared.

"Luck."

"It worked twice. Perfectly."

The greatest alkahestrist in all of Xing was speechless.

"So yes Master… my husband is a genius."

* * *

Mei intended to tell him that very night. Somehow, by the time they were cuddling together on the mat on the ground, it just didn't seem right. They had spent a long time traveling and they were both tired…

She didn't end up telling him the rest of the time they were at her Master's home. Every day was so full of trying to get things done that there was never a chance to do so during the day, and it would just slip her mind at night. She almost told him when she refused to spar, but she had found her Master's eyes on her and didn't say anything. She was not going to make Al wait until he found out on his own, but she didn't want to just tell him in front of her Master.

When they returned home, they were both busy with taking care of the business they had left behind. Then they had to pack for a trip to Amestris in a few days and make preparations for _that _absence… The third day after the trip to Master Hishu's, she couldn't not tell him.

"Mei are you feeling alright?"

He was brushing her hair before bed when he asked the question. The brush didn't stop moving through her hair, but Mei froze.

"You did touch your vegetable wrap… was there something wrong with it?"

"No. no, Al, it's not that it's…" In truth, the thought of eating that many greens in one wrap made her feel sick to her stomach. Even thinking about it now made her feel queasy.

Well. There was no better time than the present.

"Actually," she said, turning around. He dropped the brush and stared at her. "There's something I need to talk to you about." He nodded and paid her his full attention.

"Al…" she took a deep breath and smiled. "I'm pregnant."

He blinked. A handful of heartbeats passed before it seemed like he could breathe again. "What?"

"I'm pregnant."

"You're… you're serious? You're pregnant?" She nodded, smile fading ever so slightly. She thought that he would be excited—

Then the smile began to grow on his face. It was slow, but the stupid grin filled his entire face when it was done spreading.

"Pregnant?"

"Yes."

"You're going to have a baby."

"Yes."

"We're going to have a baby."

"Uh-huh."

"We're going to have our baby."

"Yes, Al," she said, now smiling widely herself.

"I'm going to be a father!" It seemed like he didn't know what to do with himself except sit there grinning. "Mei, we're going to be parents!"

"That's the general idea of having a baby."

He laughed now, a sheer happy noise and Mei found herself being picked up in her husband's arms bridal style and spun around the room. He put her down and automatically put his hand on her still flat belly. His hand took up almost the entire area, another testament of their size differences, but for once Mei didn't mind in the slightest.

"How long?"

"I think two, two and a half months. It won't show yet, but it should soon." He still grinned at her and Mei smiled again before Al kissed her. Then he pulled back and ran his hand over her stomach again.

"Our baby…" he said in a wonder-filled tone. "Our baby."

She put her arms around him and he hugged her back, whispering that he loved her in her ear. She smiled and tightened her grip around his neck.

"I love you too. And I love our child."

"I do too." They let go of each other, and Al once again put his hand over her abdomen, before grinning another time. "Our baby."

* * *

**:D**

**PARTICIPATE IN ALMEI WEEK. I already have something up for it. Do it for the baby.**


	24. Bringing Good News

**SHAME ON EVERYONE WHO DID NOT PARTICIPATE IN ALMEI WEEK. DISHONOR. DISHONOR I TELL YOU. Make a note of this. DISHONOR ON YOU. DISHONOR ON YOUR COW—!**

**Mushu :D**

**Anyways, yeah, AlMei week was awesome and fun and I was really clever with the way I answered some of the prompts that I was really proud of. Some of them, less proud. But I really liked some of them. All 7 are on my profile.**

**Also, for some reason there's like 500 words of LingFan. It was like the LingFan bug just bit me and compelled me to write them fluffs in my AlMei story. But it's cute fluffs! So… Had a lot of fun with it too.**

* * *

"Well it's about time."

"Excuse me?"

"It's about time!" Ling said happily, grinning at his wife who stood by his shoulder. "Don't you agree Lan Fan? They've taken their sweet time with a kid. Some people want to be Uncles!" The ex-guard was holding back a smile.

"Very selfish."

Ling looked honestly taken aback. "Lanny, was that sarcasm?"

The Empress turned bright red at the use of what was obviously Ling's pet name for her. "Young Lord," she hissed under her breath at him and Ling instantly frowned.

"Ling," he corrected.

"Lan Fan," she said in the same voice, refusing to look at either Al or Mei. He blinked, then seemed to realize what he had said.

"Oh." It seemed like he was honestly embarrassed and going to apologize when he glanced quickly at his guests, before he glanced back at his wife and the expression was gone. "Would you prefer Empress? Queen of My Heart? Oh Divine Ruler—"

"Ling!"

"—of My Soul and Being?" He stood up and held out his arms towards her as if to hug her and she moved backwards. He followed her. "The Star To Outshine Even the Son of the Morning Star?"

"Ling!" Lan Fan was now turning a brilliant shade of red that was reminiscent of Ed's old coat.

"My Lady? What about Mistress of My World?" Mei knew that if it had been any other enemy creeping up on her, Lan Fan would have easily been able to escape the fact that she was pinned between the wall and her husband. Whether that was cutting down the man in front of her, diving to the side, flipping over him, or whatnot, Lan Fan had either forgotten her status as one of the best guards in all of Xing or Ling had managed to break her of such instincts around him, because he quickly had her in his arms.

"What my name?" he asked her. Even now Al and Mei could both recognize two or three ways that Lan Fan would be able to escape his hold.

"Ling Yao."

"And what does the world call me?"

"Emperor."

"And what does my wife call me?" She glanced at Al and Mei and turned, if it was possible, even darker red.

"Ling—"

"Wrrrrooonnnggg," he sang happily. "When we're all alone, just her and me, no guards—"

"Ling—" she said, almost pleading.

"Wrong again." It now looked at if the poor girl was going to pass out for sheer embarrassment. "It's usually at night," he said as if trying to be helpful. "And there are just so many layers of this robe—"

"Lingy-poo-face," she shouted, probably more just to get him to shut up. He grinned and kissed her happily, which did nothing more for her complexion. Then he left her standing there, looking like she'd rather like to melt into the floorboards and disappear forever.

"Congratulations, you two."

"… thanks…"

* * *

"She's so adorable, she has my gold eyes and her skin's so red and wrinkly—"

"Ed, yeah, that's great! I can't wait to get to meet her… but um…"

"What? Do you not think Tammy is going to be the most perfect—"

"No! Ed, geez, she's going to be amazing. It's just that Mei and I have some news as well."

Ed seemed very miffed that Al had cut him off and Al wondered if maybe it was a better idea to let his brother cool off from the newborn phase before telling him the news. But he had already made the call, so…

"Mei's pregnant. We're going to have a baby."

There was a pause of silence.

Then laughing.

Lots of laughing.

"HA! Have fun with her, Alphonse!" There was more cackling and then a wounded cry. Some yelling and then a new voice started talking through the phone.

"Congratulations, Al! You're going to be a wonderful father! I'm excited for you two. Remind Mei to eat if she's getting morning sickness. It's the last thing you want to do, but it's the best thing for you. You'd better come visit!"

Then more yelling, the sound of a baby crying, and Ed took the line once again.

"Hey, Al, don't forget to call and tell Teacher, okay?"

"Teacher?"

"Yeah. She was terrifyingly mad when she found out that we didn't tell her about Benny until he was born. Thought she was going to murder both of us and raise him herself for a moment. Make sure to tell her."

"Okay, Brother, I will—"

"Oi! Ben, don't—!" There was the sound of something crashing and the line cut off.

* * *

"Fuhrer Mustang, hello. Is something wrong?"

"No, Ambassador, everything is quite alright… except for one thing."

"What is it? Is there an issue with Xing?"

"No, of course not, Xing is fine, everything is going great… I just have one little problem."

"What is that, sir?"

"Why on earth did I have to find out about your wife's pregnancy from Fullmetal!? I thought we were better friends than that, Alphonse, really!"

"I uh… I'm sorry?"

"You should be! And you didn't send anything for Chris's birthday two weeks ago! He's growing up to be the most wonderful little boy, I'm so proud of him, he's already talking in full three word sentences! Papa's so proud!"

"Um… Colonel… you're starting to sound like General Hughes…"

"… No I'm not!"

"Um…"

"This conversation is over, Ambassador. Give your wife my regards."

* * *

"I'm terribly sorry about earlier, Alphonse. Congratulations, really."

"Thank you, Lieutenant Hawkeye."

"Al, really, just call me Riza."

"I don't know, Lieutenant, that still seems weird to me."

"It's fine. I'm not even a Lieutenant anymore."

"So what harm is there in me calling you that?" Al knew that she was smiling softly into the phone.

"Good point. Congratulations once again, I wish you two the best—"

"Um, Lieuten- sorry, Riza… did you know that the Colonel was acting like General—"

"Hughes? Yes. I'm hoping it is just a phase, but I've been hiding the camera from him just in case."

"Good thinking."

* * *

Al had to admit that Teacher's call was perhaps the most normal, which was terribly odd.

"I'm glad you told me, Alphonse."

"Of course Teacher. Ed reminded me and I realized it really wouldn't be very fair not to tell you."

"How far along is she?"

"We think a little over three months at this point. It's starting to show and we're both excited about that. Most people say that the morning sickness is supposed to end about now, but she hasn't had much of a problem with it at all, so we're wondering if maybe it's going to stay longer. Equivalent exchange."

"Of course. Though I've long thought there isn't much equivalent exchange when it comes to children."

"Yeah… that's true. It's a miracle."

"It is." Her voice sounded almost wistful, but she finished up with a brusque "You'd better be taking care of that wife of yours! What are you doing talking to me!"

"Ye-yes ma'am. I'm going right now!"

* * *

Mei flattened the dress and turned to the side. She appraised her reflection in the mirror critically before turning to the other side. The Xingese Princess spent a whole fifteen minutes standing in front of the mirror looking at herself before another figure entered the reflection. She saw him coming, and therefore didn't react when he put his arms around her, hands resting on the now visible bump.

She accepted the kiss he placed on the cheek, but didn't remove her eyes from the mirror. "You can really tell now, can't you?"

"How beautiful my wife is?" he asked, kissing her again.

"No," she said, finally turning away from the image and giving her husband a look. "The bump. Our baby. It's becoming obvious that I'm pregnant. I might have to start wearing different clothes soon."

"And deny people the sight of this wonderful miracle," Al asked, eyebrows raising. "Never!"

"I doubt it will be much a 'never' when my clothes get so tight they're likely to split open in front of everyone."

He chuckled and bent down to put his hands on the bump. "Hi there, champ. How are you doing today?" He enjoyed asking the baby how he was doing. Al couldn't remember where he had been reading it, but he remembered reading a theory that fetuses could indeed hear from a very early stage, even if they couldn't recognize the sound waves as actual words. Whether that was true or not, or how early sensory nerves like hearing were developed, he had made it his goal to have his child familiar with his voice long before he was born.

"Champ?"

"Champ. As in champion. It doesn't quite translate into Xingese very well…" Mei snorted softly before pausing.

"So do you think it's going to be a boy then?"

"I don't know Mei. It could be either."

"Of course it could be either," she said, giving him a look once again.

"Which one do _you_ think it's going to be?" Mei paused and absent mindedly rubbed the bump.

"I think it's going to be a boy."

"Really? I was going to say girl."

"Well I guess that means that at least one of us is going to be wrong."

"It also means that at least one of us is going to be right. Think of it positively." Mei smiles and laughs slightly as Al presses his eat to her stomach.

"Hello, little one. Your mother seems to think you're a boy, but I think you're a girl. Mind telling us which one you are?"

He waited there with his ear pressed to her stomach for almost five minutes of pure silence before turning his head so he was kissing it instead.

"You're as stubborn as your mother. She won't tell me a thing."

"Or he."

Al smirked and stood up, this time kiss the baby's mother and then taking her in his arms. "I guess we'll find out, won't we? What are you going to give me when I win?"

"What am I going to give you? _You_ are going to give me a foot massage when_ I_ win."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. In that case, while I'm holding our precious baby daughter, you can me a shoulder massage."

"It's on, Ambassador Elric."

"Good luck, Princess Chang."

"You're the one who's going to need it."

* * *

**Okay, explanation about the little LingFan at the beginning of the chapter, about the nickname. Yeah. Lingy-poo-face. This comes all the way back from when they were little kids before Lan Fan had actually taken her oath to protect him. She knew that he was going to be her charge, but hadn't finished her training. As a very mature little seven year old, however, Ling's antics had stuck her as extremely immature and she had to come up with an insult that wouldn't have her head being returned to her parents on a silver platter and came up with that. It shocked Ling so much to have the quiet, stalwart little guard Lan Fan call him that that he laughed so hard he fell backwards into a pile of manure, making the moniker quite apt. It became one of the few things that Lan Fan could call him to make him show any sense of propriety and she ended up becoming rather attached to the name as such.**

**And the Royai fanchild mentioned above, Chris. His name is Christopher Maes Mustang. Christopher after his adoptive mother and Maes after… yeah. I didn't want to name him straight up Maes because my hipster gene kicked in and wouldn't let me and my little sister suggested Christopher as a name and I was like "YUS. TIS PURRRFECT."**

**And the newest EdWin kid, Tamara is a shout out to the girl who got me into FMA. I started watching it cause I was bored and maybe it would get her to SHUT UP ABOUT IT... and then I fell helplessly in love with it. So... it's all thanks to her that this series exists. She actually spells her Tammy TAMI, but I didn't want to copy her exactly... **

**Also, I would very very very much like it if you would please review with some suggestions for names that you have for the baby. This is the only one of their kids that I do not have named and I don't know what I'm going to name her/him. So, suggestions would be helpful. I know what gender the baby's going to be, but I do need some suggestions for next chapter in which they're going to be discussing baby names for both genders. Amestrian or Xingese names, girl or boy, really anything, PLEASE :D I will credit everyone who contributed names at the end of the chapter… Por favor. You can't see it, but I'm doing puppy dog eyes at the screen and they're adorable…**


	25. Matters of Discussion

**... I have absolutely no excuse whatsoever for not posting last week. BUT! I am trying to post a SECOND chapter later today to make up for it! Because I love you guys! Certainly not cause I spent half an hour last week when I should have been writing this story coming up with a schedule of all the big events occurring in this story and the date that they will air and don't want to get off it already. Nope. I love you!**

**I actually do, though. Seriously. Ya'll are awesome**

* * *

"We could name him after you father."

"Van? Or Hohenheim?"

"I was thinking Van. Hohenheim would just get him teased in Amestris or Xing. Van would be unordinary, but it wouldn't be a curse either. Of course, we could always just name him after you."

"Now that would be a curse."

"I happen to like your name a lot, Al. Though it would get confusing to have two Als."

"I've always found Juniors annoying to tell the truth. I was very glad Ed and Winry decided to give Benjamin 'Edward' as a middle name instead of a first. Ben's so much like Ed that if they had the same name no one would be able to tell them apart."

"So you don't want to name him after your brother."

Al stopped tapping his pencil against a pad of paper and stared at her. "You wouldn't object to him being named Edward with every fiber of your being?"

"Well, I do think that naming him Edward would condemn him to being a midget sized rice boy for the rest of his life, but he is your brother…" Al rolled his eye and pushed her shoulder playfully. They were sitting on the couch together discussing possible names for the baby. Normally Mei would relax against one arm of the couch and put her feet in his lap, but today her head was taking the spot for itself. Her own pad of paper was propped up against her five month bump, but the pencil lay abandoned on the coffee table that Al's feet were resting on. She had already told him twice to get his feet off the table, but…

Al had been gently stroking her hair, which was no confined to its braids like normal. He had his pad of paper balanced on the arms of the couch next to him and was consulting the list of names they had already complied thoughtfully.

"We could use Edward for a middle name. Or Ling."

"Van Ling? No, that doesn't sound very good. Can you imagine calling him that when you need to be stern?"

"No, not really."

"Van Edward isn't much better. It sounds like some rustic old last name." Al snorted, but had to agree with his wife.

"We don't have to name him after someone we know. There are plenty of good names. Jie, Michael, Victor, Henry, John, Mien, Jayden-"

"Jayden? Not that one it's sounds like he's going to grow up and just play games his whole life."

"Where do you get that impression?"

"Just give me more names."

"Uh, Steven, Adam, Zhuo."

"You like the name Zhuo?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with it?"

"I used to know a boy who would steal all the other girl's dolls. I sent one of the servants after him."

"… so no to Zhuo?" She nodded sharply, which was odd considering her head was still in his lap.

"Maybe we should try to think of our of our more normal-named relatives or friends to name him after?"

"Like who, Al?"

"Uh…"

"Exactly. We don't exactly make friends with exactly normal people."

"Well at least some of them have to have a normal name. Um… oh! What about Doctor Marcoh?"

"Doctor Marcoh?"

"His name is Tim, right? That's not a bad name." Mei looked thoughtful and rubbed her bulge. Then she lifted her head up slightly so that she could see it. "What do you think? Is Tim a good name for you?"

As expected, there was no real response.

"She's not responding because she's a girl. Timothy Van Elric is alright a name for a boy, but for a girl…"

"Very well, what you name a girl?"

"I've always loved your mother's name."

"Xia?" He nodded at her.

"It's beautiful. And without her, I wouldn't have you." Mei smiled at Al and reach up to flick his nose lightly with a finger.

"What about a middle name? That's one Xingese name, so do you want the middle name to be Amestrian?"

"Timothy Van isn't Xingese."

"Maybe he can go by Chang. And Van is Xerxian anyways so it's not like your culture will have full claim on him."

"Why don't you pick the middle name then?"

Mei paused and thought about it for a while. Al waited patiently, gently massaging Mei's shoulders and neck. Not the easiest of tasks because of their position, but he knew that she appreciated it.

"And Ed and Winry already have dibs on Trisha?"

"Well, it's Sara's middle name, so sort of? I don't think they would have much of a fuss if we used it for her, but…"

"Pinako?"

"Pinako?"

"Yeah, she practically raised you didn't she? Without her, I would have you, right?"

Al smiled back at her. "That's a lot of pressure on her. To be named after two women that without she wouldn't exist?"

"She's our child, I think she'll be able to handle it." Al paused and thought about it for a while.

"Xia Pinako. I like it. I hope she will too."

"That is the trick isn't it?" Mei asked, once again rubbing her bump. Then she paused before adding: "Al… we haven't really talked about it. What we're going to do."

"What do you mean?"

"About us. About his situation. Are we going to raise him here in Xing? Are we going to talk in Amestrian at home? Is he going to be educated at a school here? I'm sure that if we asked, Ling would let him be tutored with Fu when it comes to that time. Do we want that? Should we educate him with other children? Would it be easier to teach him Xingese customs in Amestris or the other way around? I don't want to do anything that might put him at any sort of disadvantage."

"We do already have the house here so it would make sense to stay here. It's a good home to raise a child in."

"… but?"

"I don't know… I've always imagined raising my children in Amestris, maybe it's just hard for me to adjust to the thought to raising them here."

"Al, if you think we should raise them in Amestris, we can. You know I think Resembool is charming, I wouldn't mind living there."

"Are you sure Mei? Xing is your home."

"And Amestris is yours. And just because I'm saying we can raise them in Amestris doesn't mean I'm saying that we're going to raise them to be pure Amestrians. There's no way we could do that with our children. Especially not with your job."

"Do you think my job would allow me to live in Resembool? Here I'm living really close to the Palace, I can stop by there any time I need and that's half the job."

"You still have to commute to Central ever few months, Al. It would be a shorter trip for you to go there from Resembool. And Ed's managed to make it work." Al snorted softly.

"Ed's job is more just like heading up to Central whenever Fuhrer Mustang feels he needs someone to annoy him."

Mei giggled. Then she lifted herself so she was propped up on one arm instead of lying with her head in his lap.

"I do want to have the baby here though. In the Chang providence."

"In the Chang Providence? But there are trained doctors and alkahestrists here—"

"And my family is there. My grandma would never forgive me if she wasn't there for my first child's birth, and asking her to come up here is far too much. There are midwives there just as trained as in the palace and you've studied almost everything there is to know about pregnancy related alkahestry. I'll be fine."

He pursed his lips, but eventually nodded. "Alright." She smiled and pecked him on the cheek. Al smiled back at her and laid his hands on the bump.

"She should be kicking soon, right?" Mei nodded and put her own hand on top of his.

"I've been able to feel him moving around every once in a while." Al grinned and waited a few moments, but when he didn't feel anything, he leaned back with a pout on his face.

"She won't budge for her daddy though." Mei rolled her eyes at him before standing up. It was already starting to get slightly difficult to do so.

"I'm going to get something to eat."

"We just ate an hour or so—"

"I'm hungry." Al paused when he saw the very pointed glare his wife was giving him and he immediately shut his mouth. "And I'm having one of those cookies."

"... Okay."

She nodded sharply and made her way to the kitchen from the living room. He rested his head against the back of the couch and put his feet up on the table (despite the fact that Mei would yell at him when she came back in the room), able to hear her pushing around in the kitchen.

Then he heard something crash and he sat up straight. "Mei?"

Then he heard the sounds of sobbing. Al shot to his feet and hurried to the kitchen to find his wife on her knees, and a large puddle of something white near her feet. "Mei?"

"I didn't mean to!"

"Mei… there's no use crying over spilled milk…" She continued to sob however and Al moved to comfort her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "In fact, if Ed was here, he'd probably be throwing a party or something!"

This was however the wrong thing to say apparently, because she lifted her face out of her hands and glared at him so fiercely he wanted to shrink back.

"Are you comparing me to your brother?"

"What? No! I was just saying that he wouldn't be crying-"

"So you are!"

"No! I'm not… you're much prettier than Ed!"

"Is that supposed to be an insult?"

"How is calling you prettier than my brother an insult?"

"Al!"

He flinched and refused to admit later that he whimpered "Don't hurt me."

He however did not feel any blow or harm. Looking up, he saw Mei smiling, albeit looking a bit confused. "Of course I wouldn't hurt you, Al. I love you. Though that doesn't tend to stop Winry very often."

Al's confirmatory noise sounded more like a strangled sob.

* * *

**Who caught the Yu-Gi-Oh GX reference?**

**I really did not like that show. Only watched it for the references to the original.**

**Special thanks to white mexican girl, almeil159, j9162 for giving me names! Pinako as a middle name from white mexican girl, naming after Dr. Marcoh from alameil159 (seriously, I loved that suggestion, don't you?), and though I didn't actually use any of j9162's names, her suggestion's were very useful in coming up with suggestions for them to propose! **


	26. Contemplation

**Just in case ya'll do what I do when I find out a story's been updated and just go straight to the most recent chapter, there is another chapter that I uploaded earlier today to make up for not posting last week. It's what would have been posted that I could only bring myself to finish today. And you know what, I finished that one and wrote this one from scratch ALL TODAY. AND IT'S NOT EVEN 7:00. BOO-YAH.**

* * *

Mei's breathing was soft against his shoulder.

Despite the many years that had gone by, Al would never cease to marvel at it.

Eight years, to the date. Eight years since Alphonse Elric sacrificed his soul for his brother's arm. Eight years since Father's death. Eight years since Edward Elric ceased to perform alchemy.

Eight years since Alphonse Elric breathed again.

Mei mumbled something and held onto her husband's arm, causing Al to reach out and cup the side of her face with one hand.

Eight years since he hadn't been able to feel anything. A time when he wouldn't have been able to feel his wife's face in his hand, under his fingertips. Her soft breathing on his bare shoulder would have been lost to him. The weight of _their child _on his side. It was something that would never cease to amaze him as long as he lived.

Their child.

Now Al ran his hand over Mei's large stomach. The round shape, the tautness of her skin, the warmth… it was all evidence of the fact that inches away from his hand was his baby. Something that alchemy could never hope to create, but he and Mei, two measly humans, had.

"You are very special," he whispered, hoping that his child would be able to hear him without waking Mei up. "Do you know why?"

There was, understandably, no response.

"It's because you're a person. Did you know that? You're a little person. A human being. We're pretty weak, and you'll be even weaker for long time. Your mommy and daddy are going to have to take care of you for a long time until you can take care of yourself. It can get really frustrating being that weak sometimes. When bad stuff happens to you, being weak is the worst thing in the world because you're powerless to try to fix what's going on. You might be wondering what's so special about being helpless and weak like that. You're not the only one. A lot of people wonder about that.

"But even though we're weak, we can get stronger. We can become wiser. We can keep trying. It's hard and sometimes you feel like there's no way you can keep going. Sometimes you just want to give up. But then… some other insignificant humans come along and remind you why you're fighting in the first place. And the more you fight, the stronger you get and the more you learn. And most important of all, you help others fight as well. And together, taking ten and giving eleven, we can all benefit. We can all overcome the bad times and come out stronger than ever.

"It's all part of one giant circle that's been going as long as the world itself, really. Something we have no control over. One is all and all is one. And you are a representative of everything that circle stands for. Just two people, made up of the same elements as the rest of the world, who created you. Life. And one day we'll die and we'll create life again with our bodies. And that life will create new life and that life will create new life. There is no end to it all. We humans will keep making the same mistakes and we'll keep on doing our very best to correct them. Because as long as we do that, we're still human."

There was only silence following Al's speech. He shook his head slightly. Of course there would only be silence. It wasn't like there would be any other response to his little speech.

Then he froze and a slow grin broke out across his face.

* * *

Mei blinked awake and wasn't very surprised to feel her husband's large hand on her stomach. Whenever he woke up before her and didn't feel like getting up quite yet, he would just lie there and rub the bump absentmindedly. Not that she minded, it was quite sweet in her opinion.

He normally was not grinning like a crazy man and trying to blink tears away.

"Al?" she mumbled sleepily. He glanced at her and rubbed a bit at one eye, trying to get rid of the liquid that threatened to leak out. "What is it?"

He smiled almost far too brightly for her to stand this soon after she woke up.

"She kicked." Mei blinked.

"She kicked?"

He nodded, still grinning. "I was talking to her," he glanced down at where his other hand was still resting, "and when I was done… she kicked. I felt her. She really is… alive. Real. Amazing."

"Of course she is, you silly man."

"I knew, but… did I ever tell you about the baby Winry delivered in Rushvalley?" Mei raised an eyebrow and lifted herself onto one elbow.

"No."

"That was the first time we had ever met Paninya. She actually pick-pocketed Ed's pocket watch and we were chasing after her. She led us to this little home up in the mountains where she sort of roomed with this family. A couple and his father. The father saved her life, Paninya's, I mean, by giving her automail legs and she was only trying to work up the money to pay him back. But while we were there, the wife, of his son, she was pregnant. This was while I was in the armor, but I still asked her if I could feel the baby and she let both me and Ed. I… I couldn't. I couldn't really feel anything. I don't know if she kicked while I did it or not. She wasn't quite real until she born later that day while we were there. Winry ended up having to deliver the baby because they couldn't get a doctor up there soon enough.

"This though… I can feel my baby kick. She's real. She's alive."

Mei smiled and brushed some hair out of his face lovingly.

"Our baby."

"Our baby," he agreed before tucking her, baby and all, in his arms. She smiled softly and happily rested her head under his chin.

* * *

"What did Fuhrer Mustang want?"

Al was frowning when he walked into the dining room. The call had come right in the middle of their dinner, probably because of someone forgetting about time differences. Al had gotten up to answer it, and was gone for almost half an hour. Mei had tried to wait for him, but she was so hungry…

She was looking forward to not being pregnant anymore. And she still had four months left.

"Mei… he needs me to come to a meeting in Central next week. He's already done his best to try to get me out of it, but he said there really is no way for me to get out of it."

"Next week? But that would mean you would have to get on a train tomorrow."

He nodded, a grimace on his face. "There's nothing?"

"That's what he said. And I'm inclined to believe him about something like this. From what he said about the meeting, they're really going to need me."

Mei glanced down at her almost empty plate and frowned. "How long?"

"… he said three weeks."

"Three weeks!"

"Yeah." He reached out and grabbed her hand, but she wouldn't look at him. "Mei, I'm sorry. I would try to get out of it if I could, but…"

"You can't just leave me, Al. Not now!" Mei hated the fact that her voice broke. She hated this constant emotional turmoil. She was Mei Chang! She was not weak. Al had left her for longer than that before. But she was pregnant. She needed his help just to stand up. Most women wouldn't have problems like that this early in the pregnancy (Mei groaned to think that this was early), but she had always been small and this much weight and anterior growth, it had ruined her center of gravity and sense of balance.

"I know… I'm sorry." She looked away from him when he tried to pulls closer. "Mei…"

She bit her lip to keep herself from crying. Stupid hormones!

"I'll call back and tell him no. I'm not going to leave you like that. He'll just have to make do."

"No… Al you go, you said it sounded like it was important."

"I'm not going to leave you." She knew she should tell him to go, but she really did not want him to leave…

"Al, you're going to go to this meeting."

"But Mei—"

"And I'm going to go with you."

"… what?"

"We're both going to go. I'm not going to sit here at home all alone for three weeks and you have to go, so I'm just going to have to go with you."

"But Mei, are you sure you're up to that much travel? And you probably would still be left alone while I'm actually in the meetings—"

"I'll be fine, I've done a lot worse. A train ride across the desert is not going to kill me just because I'm pregnant. Women have done much worse while much further along than I am."

"Yes, but Mei—"

"I'm going Al. That's final."

"I… can we at least find a doctor to keep an eye on you while we're there? In case something happens."

"Nothing is going to happen. It's just three weeks."

"Please," he said. "It's that or you're not coming."

"Like you could get me to not come."

"I'd find a way! Mei. Please. That's my condition. There's no harm in being cautious, right?"

She paused and thought about it. "Fine. We can find a doctor. Ask Fuhrer Mustang what doctor they used for Riza. Just in case."

Al sighed in relief and nodded. "Alright. You can come. But we're going to have to be careful, you're going to sit down in the train, don't get up without my help—"

* * *

**Fussy Al! Yay! I do see Al as the type of guy who would be kinda fussy. He'd try to hide it especially because of Mei and he'd know that she'd really want her space, but inside he's freaking out a little when she does something as dangerous as traveling while pregnant. As we cant tell here. :D**

**Review por favor!**


	27. Unexpected

**Thank goodness for Google.**

**That's all I can say. THANK GOODNESS FOR GOOGLE AND THE INTERNET. **

**Also, you remember from Chapter 10 when I got really really mad about someone stealing my plot device? "****Oh! And I'm rather mad right now! I just discovered that someone else has been using my plot device! I'm not going to say who or what it is so I won't spoil it for you guys, but I'VE HAD IT PLANNED FOR OVER A YEAR SO WHEN I DO USE IT I PLANNED IT LONG BEFORE [insert name of person who did it] YOU SO YOU HAVE NO RIGHT WHATSOEVER TO GET MAD ABOUT ME USING IT. YOU STOLE THE IDEA FROM MY HEAD. OR YOU HACKED MY COMPUTER AND STOLE MY FILES. So, yeah..."**

******Yeeeaaahhhhh. -_-**

* * *

Mei adored her husband. She really truly did.

It was just in moments like this that she wanted to smack him over the head and maybe throw him in a freezing cold river or something. She was sure there had to be one somewhere around this city. It was only May, right? She would settle for slightly chilly if it was a high bridge.

He wouldn't let her do anything for herself the entire train ride through the desert. It was like he was afraid that she was going to combust if she so much as raised a pinky. He had nearly gone into a panic attack when he realized she had gotten up and walked to the other side of the train without her.

This extreme fussing was not helped at all by the cramps that were racking her body at the moment.

Mei was very fortunate to not get very bad symptoms when it came to monthly bleeding. So this was a new experience for her and perhaps she wasn't responding to them as well as she might have had she had them before. She knew that Winry got horrible cramps, and she managed to work through it most of the time. Mei was trying to downplay it, but just by saying that she was uncomfortable Al began to act like she was about to die.

"Alphonse," she growled unhappily. "I'm fine. You're going to be late if you don't go now."

"I can't leave you like this!"

"Riza said she was going to be coming by with Chris, Al. Seriously, go. They can't start without you, so hurry up."

"Are you sure? Mei, if you really are in pain—"

Mei took a sharp breath through her teeth to keep herself from trying to bite his head off. "Alphonse. Go. Now. Before I'm tempted to kill you."

"Are you—"

"Yes! Riza will be along in a bit, just go.'

He hesitated a bit longer, but after another glare from her, he took off.

Mei sighed and leaned back on the hotel bed, resting her hand on her bump. Four months, huh?

Joy.

She laid there for a few minutes, grimacing at the discomfort. Her back was hurting from sitting on the train for so long too.

There was a knock on the door, and she did her best to struggle to her feet. Not for the first time and certainly not the last, Mei was frustrated by how much this pregnancy had impeded her normal physical abilities. Lan Fan didn't have trouble just standing up at only 5 months. It wasn't until later in the third trimester she really had to take it easy. Mei was already almost bedridden by her inability to move.

Riza was waiting there at the door, with two year old Chris in her arms.

Mei smiled and invited them in. She was wary about accepting the ex-Lieutenant's offer of company while both of their husbands were involved in the meeting, but she eventually decided that it was better than being alone. As the hours progressed, it was actually quite nice. Mei could never say that she and Riza would have naturally gravitated towards each other as friends, but they could easily appreciate each other.

"I'm sorry you have to come and babysit this hormonal pregnant woman," she apologized half way through her visit.

"Of course not Princess. I wouldn't have had much to do myself other than watch Chris and file the paperwork that Roy has to bring home with him. You also saved my life, I haven't forgotten."

Mei smiled and blushed slightly. A choice she had never regretted.

Talking with the older woman was actually quite enjoyable. Mei had always preferred talking to those older than her. And, when the conversation turned that direction, her pregnancy experience was quite enlightening.

"Have you been doing anything stressful or exhausting?" she asked her when Mei brought up the cramps.

"No, just riding the train and climbing the stairs to this room. Al won't even let me get up to get a cup of water for myself."

"Roy was the same way until I threatened to shoot him," Riza said with a small smile. "They mean well, but…" Mei giggled and Chris, who had fallen asleep from boredom, shifted and grabbed on tighter to his mother. "I don't know what the problem might be. I got cramps whenever I exerted myself too much, but… Have you had any other serious symptoms?"

"Only back pain from the train ride. Aren't those fairly normal though?"

"They can be. I'd try to be careful though. If you get any other symptoms… hmm. Do you have paper and pen?"

"Mhmm." Mei nodded and grabbed one of the pads of paper on the bedside table. Al never went anywhere without them. The current one she grabbed had a few diagrams scratched on it in Al's neat handwriting about "midwife alkahestry". After the last two births he was helpless at, when Al found out that Mei was pregnant, he was determined to learn everything he could about the specialized branch of alkahestry for pregnancy and birth, affectionately termed "midwife alkahestry". She simply flipped a few pages back and handed it to Riza with one of the pens next to it.

She scribbled a few lines of information on it and handed it to her. "This is the doctor that cared for me while I was pregnant with Chris. If you do get any other symptoms, call him and get an appointment. Tell him I suggested him to you and he won't turn you down. In fact, call him when I leave and tell him you're in Central. Just in case something goes wrong, so he knows that you might show up. There's no harm in being cautious."

Mei nodded and resolved to do so when the Fuhrer's wife left. As frustrating as she found Al's fussing, he did have good cause too. She didn't want anything bad to happen either.

They continued to talk for another hour or so, at which point Al returned and immediately resumed his paranoid treatment. Riza just laughed and excused herself, leaving.

She almost didn't call the doctor for fear of making Al's fussing worse, but logic eventually won and she placed the call. The doctor, Doctor Grey, was more than happy to treat her if something when wrong when he heard who had referred her and who she was. To her relief, the call and the fact that there was someone who could treat her if something happened made Al relax a bit.

He began explaining what they had been talking about the meeting while he massaged her feet, and Mei finally relaxed. Things were looking a lot better in her opinion. Tomorrow Riza said she would come by again. Al kissed her before they went to bed and she fell asleep to the comforting warmth of Al's arms around her.

Everything was wrong in the morning.

* * *

_Mei had known when she woke up in the middle of the night that something was wrong._

_The sheets were wet. _

_She didn't know if it was the sleep still receding or the shock of what was going on— that wasn't supposed to happen was it? What could possibly be going on— _

_Al woke up when he heard he panting—_

"_No, Al, I'm fine, we don't know—"_

_There was pain, worse than the cramping—_

_She could feel the car humming underneath her, the pain hadn't stopped—_

_Al caught her when she fell down trying to get into the hospital—_

_There was chaos when he brought her to the doctor that Riza had mentioned, what was his name?_

_The pain increased sharply and Mei remembered crying out—_

_There were spots in her vision, then it all went black despite the screaming—_

"_Al?" she asked when she woke up. His face was streaked with tears as he held onto her hand. She was on a bed while he was sitting beside her, how had they gotten in that position? "Al, what's… what happened?"_

_He shuddered before sobbing again._

"_Al? Where's… what…" _

_Then she looked away from her husband's shuddering frame and noticed the flat quality of her stomach. _

_Flat._

Flat.

"_Al… where's our baby?" He didn't respond. "It's too early, he would… he wouldn't have…" Her heartbeat and breathing rate increased. "Al. Where's my baby!"_

"_Mrs. Elric." She looked up and saw someone she didn't recognize. "I'm so sorry, there was nothing that could be done—"_

"_No!" she screamed at him. "No!"_

"_I'm so sorry."_

* * *

"Mr. Elric, may I talk to you outside." Mei answered this question for the doctor by grabbing on tighter to the collar of Al's shirt.

"Anything that can be said in front of me can be said in front of my wife," he said, tightening his arms around her. Grey mumbled something that sounded like "not wanting to upset her further". Al smiled, but it was obviously anything but happy. "I appreciate the effort, but there is little you can say that will upset us further."

"Mr. Elric, the truth is I'm not sure your wife will be able to have children again."

"But the other doctor said she would be perfectly able to give birth," Al said, frowning slightly.

"Mrs. Elric—"

"Chang." She corrected, merely out of habit. A look of irritation crossed his face but he corrected his mistake.

"Mrs. Chang, you _are_ perfectly able to give birth, I've rarely seen a stronger woman. The problem isn't your ability to give birth to the child, the problem is getting your body carrying it full term. You see, you have what we doctors call an incompetent cervix. It's usually a symptom of a pervious birth or cervical damage, but it's not unheard of to come naturally. I know of two or three other women who have the same problem. When the embryo implants itself in the uterus, the cervix basically plugs itself up to keep the growing embryo and then fetus inside the womb. During birth, the cervix will dilate, usually to about 10 inches, so that the baby can be forced out. With an incompetent cervix, the dilation begins far too early, usually in the second trimester, and in your case, about a day ago. This causes the fetus to be born far too early to be able to survive on its own, and therefore die."

"Is there anything we can do to fix it?" Al asked. Once again the doctor hesitated.

"I don't believe so. I don't know much about alkahestry, but if you can find some remedy I'm sure those women would pay an arm and a leg to be able to get their hands on it."

"An arm and a leg, eh?" Al murmured quietly before tightening his grip around Mei once again.

"Perhaps one day we will be able to find a way to fix it, but with our current medical knowledge and practices, if you were to become pregnant once again, it is very unlikely that you would be able to carry the fetus full term. And if you were able to carry it full term, it could very well deal mortal damage to you yourself." Al breathed in sharply

"Never?" Mei asked, the first word she had said since the truth dawned on her. The doctor winced.

"I'm sorry…" he stood there and opened his mouth as if he'd like to say something else, but eventually just shook his head. "I'll leave you two alone now." He then left. Mei waited until they were sure the man was gone before crying. They were bitter heart-broken tears. Al didn't know what to do or say beyond just holding her.

"It'll be okay Mei, I promise. We'll be okay."

"How do you know?" she whimpered through the tears. "How can you promise me that everything will be okay?" Al hesitated.

"Because we still have each other, at least. And we have Ed, and Winry. And Benny and Sara and little Tami. And Ling, Lan Fan and Jun-li and Fu. And Mustang and Riza."

She was silently sobbing into his shirt, and Al held her even closer.

"I love you so much," he muttered as he held her tightly. "I love you Mei, I will never stop loving you, and I would do anything to protect you."

"I wanted this child so bad…"

"I know. I did too."

Mei turned her head towards his face, glaring almost accusatorily with her tear filled eyes.

"How can you be so calm?"

"Quite honestly?" he said, almost tempted to chuckle. "I'm devastated."

She buried her face in his chest again, still sobbing gently.

He put his chin on top of her head and took a shuddering breath to keep himself from crying again. "I'm devastated."

It was a girl.

* * *

**I would just like to reiterate what I said above. I've had this idea planned since BEFORE I started writing Good For the Soul.**

**OhLookItsCazz and everyone else who have accepted it as head canon just published it first. And I am really not happy with ya'll for doing it first cause I planned it first. And now ya'll are making me look like a poser.**


	28. Aftermath

**Blllaaaaaagggggghhh. So much emmootttiooonnnn. I don't know if I did it justice. I hope I did. It's really draining to write something like this, even though I already had part of it written from forever ago. Pack-ratting old files for the win! Whoooo!**

***composes self* Now, sad :(**

* * *

Al guessed that it was Mustang that had called Ed. Perhaps it was Riza, but it wasn't him or Mei. Either way, within a day of… the miscarriage, there was an insistent pounding on the door of the hotel. Their train back to Xing wouldn't arrive for another few days. In the light of what had happened, Al was being excused from the meetings and was going to be traveling back to Xing with Mei.

He didn't want to get up and answer the door and was feeling rather uncharitable towards the person doing the pounding. It wasn't until he opened the door that he realized just how much he wanted to see his brother.

"Al?" Ed seemed surprised. He looked down at himself briefly. Okay, sure he was still wearing the shirt and pants he had thrown on in a minute flat before rushing Mei out of the apartment. And sure they were probably wrinkled and stained. And his eyes were probably pinky, puffy, and hollow.

"Brother? What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? Al! What, did you think I wouldn't care that my little brother… Al…" Then Ed threw his arms around his younger brother.

Al was stiff and no quite sure how to respond before he responded with just as tight a hug. "I'm so sorry, Al."

He felt the sting of tears in the back of his eyelids and did his best to keep them back. He wouldn't cry again. He just held on tighter. Even now, years later when they had their own lives separate from each other… Ed was still such a pillar of strength for him, Al couldn't help but feel slightly better with him there.

"Where's Mei?"

"She's inside on the couch. Neither of us have really moved since…" Ed nodded and moved into the room, instantly spotting the black head curled up on the couch.

"Mei?" She turned at Al's voice and frowned slightly when she saw Ed.

"Edward?"

"Hey, beansprout." Al almost wanted to face palm. At a time like this? He thought that was only his crazy therapy trick with Granny, and almost told him off, but Mei lifted her nose in the air.

"Rice-boy."

Ed opened his mouth to respond with another insult, but he caught Al's eye and he shook his head. Then he raised an eyebrow at the box Ed had in his hand. Ed grinned and lifted it up higher.

"Winry sent an apple pie. What do you say we exploit my wife's cooking?"

* * *

"She wanted to come when we heard, but Tammy's still so young we couldn't leave her with a babysitter like we could with Benny and Sara. Though we'd have to find some sort of saint to take on both of them and a baby. So she had to stay back. I hoped on the first train up here. I'm lucky the ticket master likes me. I wouldn't have stood for someone running into the station as the train's about to take off demanding passage with a freshly baked pie in one hand. I would have stolen the pie at least." Al smiled weakly as he took another bite of pie.

Sure enough, it tasted delicious. He was sure it would have been better if it was hot, but it was still amazing. And somehow comforting.

Mei had only taken a bite before pushing it away.

"Mei, you should at least finish the piece. It tastes good, I swear."

"I don't doubt that, Alphonse. Winry made it…"

Ed grinned as if he were the one being complimented.

"I just… I'm not in the mood."

"Are you sur—"

"Yes, Al, I'm sure." She stood up and nodded at both men. "Thanks for coming Ed, we appreciate it. Tell Winry… thanks." She gave them a brief smile before turning around and leaving the room.

Al half got out of his chair to follow her, but then he fell back down in his own seat and dropped his face into his hands.

"I don't know what to do," he whispered. "I hate this. I _hate_ it. I'm so helpless Ed. I don't know what to do… what I can do to make this better. Everything was going so great and then all of a sudden everything's ruined. I want to make things better, but I'm so cut up inside myself. I wish there was something I could go out and do, something to work on that could make this better, but nothing… "

"Al—"

"Don't worry, Brother, I'm not going to try anything stupid. But… I'm so… devastated. And I'm trying so hard to be the strong one for the both of us, but I'm just…" He buried his face in his hands again.

There was silence, until Al felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Al, if she's anything like you, she's trying to be the strong one so that you don't have to be. The thing she wants and fears most if for you to break down."

"… am I you and she's me?"

"We found our happy ending, didn't we?"

Al snorted slightly, but smiled. "Yeah. Though it doesn't exactly feel like it right now."

"If you're in pain, you're alive."

"… Gee, thanks Ed."

* * *

Just when Al thought things were starting to get better, they walked in the door of their house.

Ling and Lan Fan had met them at the train station, apparently having actually snuck away from the guards under the pretense of "having a moment" and slipped onto the streets in civilian clothing to come and meet them. Lan Fan was confident enough in her ability to keep him safe to go along with the escapade. It was almost a bit of a shock, to see Ling in his old outfit from Amestris. Lan Fan wasn't exactly wearing her old guard's uniform, but it was obvious that she was more comfortable in her current garb than she would ever be in any Empress regalia.

The first thing Ling did was hug his younger sister.

It seemed like he had the same effect on her that Ed had for Al, because she clung tightly to him, and though she was wiping moisture from her eyes when she pulled away, she did look a little better. Maybe it was just the Xingese air. Maybe it really was her brother.

Lan Fan hugged the princess as well, and Al found himself being embraced by the Emperor of Xing.

"Thanks Ling," he whispered before he let him go.

"Of course. How are you?"

"… Hanging on." He nodded.

"We should leave, talk somewhere else. The guards might think to check here when they find out that we're gone."

They had a conversation at one of the local restaurants over bowls of rice. Al was hopeful that thing were looking better, before they returned home.

She seemed to freeze when they entered their room to drop off their luggage.

"Mei?"

He winced when he caught sight of the cradle he had been in the process of constructing. It had been a bit of a challenge for himself. No alchemy involved or allowed. He knew he wouldn't be able to do it from scratch per say, but he did have a professional lend him all the parts he would need to stick it together.

It was only half constructed, more a mini-boat and the frame to hold it. He wasn't even close to putting it all together yet, he had wanted to get a bit more advice before moving onto that step.

"Mei…"

She just shook her head and left the room. He dropped the bags he was carrying and simply put his arms around her when he found her curled up on their couch and kissed her head.

* * *

"Mei?"

She was just sitting in the room again. They hadn't been very far along in upgrading the ground floor guest room into a nursery, but there was a rocking-chair, a bed, and the pieces of the cradle. She was sitting in the rocking chair, holding onto a blanket that she had been in the process of making herself.

"Yes, Alphonse?" she answered, not looking up or moving her gaze at all.

"Mei…"

"What, Al?" she snapped, now glaring at him. He walked over and knelt down in front of her, gently prying the blanket out of her hands. She was holding onto it tightly and wouldn't let go.

"No, don't take it…"

"Mei, you have to let go of it."

"No, I can't…"

"Please!" he shouted, grabbing onto her hands. "You can't keep doing this! You can't… I need my wife back… please Mei."

She stared at him with hollow eyes that weren't seeing.

"Please Mei." He was crying again. Couldn't she tell that watching this happen to her was hurting him? That the vacant expression was tearing him apart. He felt so hopeless.

"I can't Al… I can't."

Now she was crying too. Hadn't they both run out of tears by now? She was wrapping her arms around his neck and crying into his hair. It was getting wet and so was her shirt. She hadn't been wearing her usual brightly colored dresses and Xingese-style shirts. Instead she had been wearing some of his old shirts that didn't fit her very well and hid the fact that there was no longer any life growing inside of her.

"Neither can I," he muttered. "I walk around and all I see is you telling me that you were pregnant, laughing about the names we were coming up with, you getting mad that none of your clothes would fit… there's too many memories here… I just can't…"

"I can't…"

And they spent the night crying together, trying to draw comfort from each other. Eventually they fell asleep, neither in comfortable positions. Halfway through the night Al woke up and carried his wife to their bed where he collapsed and fell asleep again, crying into the already wet pillows.

* * *

It was morning when Mei woke up. For a moment she was sure that everything was going to be alright, until the events of the past few days came rushing back in. She remembered the pain, the blood, and the devastation. For a moment all she wanted was to curl up and continue to cry, but she forced herself to stand up and walk to the kitchen where there was a wonderful smell.

She stumbled in and sat down in a chair. Al was standing at the filthy stove (neither of them had been cleaning anything lately), most likely creating the smells. Without a word he transferred whatever it was he was making onto two plates and set one down in front of her and the other in front of him.

She grabbed the fork _(why a fork,_ she wondered absentmindedly), and looked blankly and the plate in front of her. Eggs. She felt the strange desire to laugh. It was so simple. Eggs, scrambled. Crack the egg open, drop it into the pan, throw away the shell. Push the yoke around in the pan until it was all cooked and fluffy. Season to heart's desire.

She was sure that Al had seasoned the eggs (he rarely let anything go unseasoned), but she couldn't taste any of it. Ever since… that, she had been having trouble picking up individual tastes. Maybe she should be worried about it.

"I think we need to leave."

Mei looked up. Al had dropped his fork onto his plate and was staring at her with determination.

"What do you mean?"

"There are too many painful memories here. We need to get away for a bit. Be with other people." He looked so unhappy. "We can go anywhere in the East or in Amestris. See anyone. Please…"

Mei didn't answer and she could saw his shoulder's drop and heard his sigh.

"I agree."

"What?" he said sharply, head shooting up.

"Yes." She met his eyes carefully. She couldn't stay here much longer either. There was just too much to deal with. Call it running away if you want, but she had to get away. "But I have one request."

She didn't even know what made her think of it, but as soon as she did she knew it was the right choice. When he nodded and she told him his face softened and he nodded.

"I'll start packing."

* * *

It was bright and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. Even a few children were running around in the street. Al made sure to address Mei's attention elsewhere so she wouldn't see them, but from the look on her face he could tell that it didn't work.

Finally they reached their destination. He walked up the walkway and knocked on the door a few times. It only took a few seconds for it to open.

"Alphonse… what are you two doing here?"

"Hi, Teacher. I know it's slightly intrusive, but… would you mind if we stayed here for a week or two?"

* * *

**Review maybe? I'd love it if you did!**


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